Water, Waste Grants, Loans Announced

July 11, 2000

USDA will provide more than $226 million to improve drinking water and wastewater service in rural areas. The funds, a combination of grants and loans, will benefit 380,000 rural residents through 113 projects in 41 states.

The Clinton Administration launched the Water 2000 initiative in August 1994 to address the problem of inadequate drinking water quality and dependability in many rural areas. Approximately 2 million rural Americans have critical drinking water problems. This includes about 690,000 people with no running water at all in their homes, down significantly from an estimated 1.1 million people without water in 1990.

An estimated 5 million additional rural residents are affected by less critical, but still significant water supply problems. These include undersized or poorly protected water sources, lack of adequate storage facilities, and antiquated distribution systems.

"It is simply unacceptable that at the start of the 21^st Century, there are Americans who have to haul their water from open wells and streams and boil it to make it safe to drink," said Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, speaking to citizens of Warren County, NC, where $5.5 million in loans and grants for a drinking water system were invested.

Glickman highlighted two examples of the 113 water projects:

In Huron County, MI, USDA and other public partners will invest more than $20 million in grants and loans to provide drinkable water to rural communities that presently have high levels of arsenic, barium and iron in the public water supply system. The service area for this project consist of 2,108 residential and business users

In Marshall and Roberts Counties (SD) USDA will invest more than $3 million to benefit a low income community in a unique partnership between a nonprofit water association and a tribal government to meet pressing needs for quality drinking water.

Under Water 2000, USDA acts as a lender of last resort, targeting investment to communities that need it most. Water 2000 projects also leverage funds from local water districts, county governments, state agencies and other federal sources to make the most effective use of all available resources. This year, $85.6 million in additional funds will come from these other sources.

The initiative has helped upgrade and expand drinking water and waste water disposal services in rural communities having some of the national's worst water quality, quantity, and dependability problems, according to USDA. The assistance package announced today brings the total amount invested through Water 2000 to $2.5 billion, and the number of Americans served to more than 3 million.