The Water Well Trust, a national nonprofit that provides funding for wells for low-income families, announced that it has received a $1.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fund Water Well Trust projects throughout the U.S.
The funding comes from USDA’s Decentralized Water Systems (DWS) program. The funding will support water well and wastewater projects to increase potable water system and wastewater system availability for rural households.
The USDA grant and matching funds from the Water Systems Council will be used to fund Water Well Trust projects throughout the U.S. This is the 10th USDA grant received by the Water Well Trust since 2014.
Beneficiaries of the Water Well Trust are low-income homeowners that have wells that are no longer functioning properly, have contamination issues that render the well unusable, or have no well or safe water source. The Water Well Trust also provides funding for septic systems.
In the past nine years, USDA grant monies have been used to increase potable water availability to rural households in 38 of the 50 states. To date, the Water Well Trust has been involved in drilling or rehabilitating over 530 water wells serving 525 households, many of which were USDA projects.
The grant monies will provide long-term, low-interest loans to applicants seeking new or improved water wells and septic systems. The Water Well Trust limits funding to a maximum of $15,000 for a well and $15,000 for a septic system. Loans have an interest rate of 1% with terms of up to 20 years.
To qualify for a WWT loan, applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence and must not have access to a public water supply or sewer. The applicant's household income must not exceed 60% of the median non-metropolitan household income for the state in which the applicant resides. The income criteria apply to both the applicant and all other occupants of the home.
Prospective applicants can determine if they qualify and start the application process by completing a submission form on the Water Well Trust website.
