USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants

Under the Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants (PDF) (2 pp, 35K, About PDF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can provide funds at two different levels. A maximum grant of $500,000 can assist a rural community that has 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. The funds can be used for the construction of a water source up to and including the treatment plant.

The USDA could also provide funds to a maximum of $150,000 to make emergency repairs and replacement of facilities on existing systems such as distribution waterline extensions and repairs on distribution waterlines. An emergency may be the result of an incident such as, but not limited to, a drought, earthquake, flood, tornado, hurricane, disease outbreak, chemical spill, leakage, or seepage. Note that due to budget cuts, funding for the USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grants may not be available for fiscal year 2012. In the past, Congress has created special appropriations for certain disasters that cover rural utility funding programs for repairing/reimbursing rural water utilities. Refer to the USDA for the most up-to-date information.

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