Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants

Funding Limits Per Request: $150,000 or $500,000

Purpose:To assist rural communities that have experienced a significant decline in quantity or quality of drinking water due to an emergency, or in which such decline is considered imminent, to obtain or maintain adequate quantities of water that meets the standards set by the Safe Drinking Water Act. This emergency is considered an occurrence of an incident such as, but not limited to, a drought, earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, disease outbreak or chemical spill, leakage or seepage.

Eligibility:

Grants may be made to public bodies, non-profit corporations and Indian tribes serving rural areas. The areas to be served may not be located in cities or towns with a population in excess of 10,000 nor may they have a median household income of more than 100 percent of a State's non-metropolitan median household income. Applicants are expected to borrow as much as then can afford to repay; however, grants may be made for 100 percent of project costs. There are two levels of funding limits for ECWAG. In order for a project to be considered under the $500,000 limit, the project must be used to alleviate a significant decline in quantity and quality of water available and funds will be used for the construction of a water source up to and including the treatment plant. Examples are new wells, reservoirs, transmission lines, treatment plants, and/or other sources of water. Grants to be considered under the $150,000 limit will be made for distribution waterline extensions, breaks or repairs on distribution waterlines, and operation and maintenance type items that remedy an acute shortage or significant decline in the quantity or quality of potable water. Examples are a washed out river crossing in a distribution system, and/or construction of distribution lines to individuals not currently on the system, whose wells have gone dry.

Requirements:The material submitted with the application should include the Preliminary Engineering Report, Environmental Review, population and median household income of the area to be served, description of project, and the nature of the emergency that caused the problem(s) being addressed by the project. The documentation must clearly show that the applicant has had a significant decline in quantity and quality of potable water or an acute shortage of potable water, or that such a decline or shortage is imminent, and that the proposed project will eliminate or alleviate the problem. A disaster designation is not required.

Basic Instruction: RUS Instruction 1778

Where to apply: Applications are accepted at any time through our Rural Development State and Area Offices. To locate an office near you go to http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html