Dover, Del., Feb. 23, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced earlier this week that USDA is investing a total of $770 million for 216 projects in 45 states, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands to bring high-speed internet, state-of-the-art infrastructure and economic growth to rural communities as part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda. In Delaware and Maryland, six organizations will receive a total of $3.6 million to support critical water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
USDA Rural Development Delaware and Maryland Deputy State Director Letitia Nichols said, “These investments will support the Delaware and Maryland state economies by making rural communities attractive, economically viable and safe places to live and work.”
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The Institute for Local Self-Reliance Inc. received a Solid Waste Management Grant in the amount of $81,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to develop a model Master Composter training program for composting foods scraps at community gardens and on farms, both urban and rural. This is a pilot program working in conjunction with the University of Maryland Extension and the Montgomery County Soil Conservation District. The goals of this pilot training program are to 1) support the on-farm composting demonstration hub at the Agricultural Farm History Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, and 2) provide technical resources that can support the proliferation of on-farm composting to aid in the diversion of food scraps from disposal while increasing the amount of high-quality compost to cycle back into local food systems.
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Sussex County Council, in Delaware, received a supplemental Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant totaling $844,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to provide sanitary sewer service to replace aging on-site septic systems that are past their useful life and failing for 228 residential properties in the Lochwood Subdivision, in rural Sussex County, Delaware. Sanitary sewer service usage will reduce the amount of pollution that affects environmentally sensitive areas like inlands waters, the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. These resources are vital to the quality of life for the residents of the county and to the long-term economic viability of Sussex County.
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The Commissioners of Vienna, located in Maryland, received a Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant totaling $1,529,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to relocate and drill two new wells and construct a new Water Treatment Plant (WTP), for the Town of Vienna; located in rural Dorchester County, Maryland. The WTP will be equipped with modern controls, treatment, and filtration equipment. The project will also include abandonment of the existing wells, lines, and water treatment building, removal of the existing sludge, and reclamation of the site. The project will benefit residents and the environment alike by facilitating reasonable and planned growth in the area and improving water quality. Total project funding is being provided jointly through the Maryland Department of the Environment.
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The Town of Hancock, located in Maryland, received a Water and Waste Disposal Grant in the amount of $405,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to reconstruct the Pennsylvania Avenue pump station and a connecting gravity sewer line for the town of Hancock, Maryland. Upgraded to modern safety standards, the pump station is the first step in the town's rehabilitation of its wastewater treatment system. The project helps remove health, safety, and sanitary concerns from a current line's manhole backups and overflows to a nearby stream. It will protect Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds and benefit 1,545 town residents. A HUD Community Development Block Grant is contributing $800,000 to the project.
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Pocomoke City, located in Maryland, received a Water and Waste Disposal Loan in the amount of $463,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to improve drinking water quality for customers of the Pocomoke City, Maryland, water system; located in rural Worcester County. The project will install water tank mixing equipment at both City water towers to remove unsafe Trihalomethane chemicals and reduce or eliminate the buildup of bio films and disinfection products in the drinking water. Pocomoke City is considered a socially vulnerable, distressed community, and has a high poverty rate. A grant from the Maryland Department of the Environment is providing most of the funding for this critical infrastructure project. A low interest loan would allow the proposed project to be fully funded and move forward with construction and correction of this compliance issue. Once completed, the project will ensure healthier, safer, and better tasting water for years to come.
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Talbot County, located in Maryland, received a Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant totaling $344,000. This Rural Development investment will be used to provide additional funding to improve the St. Michaels wastewater collection system. The project will expand on the initial construction area to continue to replace part of the sewer collection system and rehabilitate sections of the sewer system where the structural integrity of the pipe remains in St. Michaels. These improvements will reduce the inflow and infiltration the county is experiencing with the existing St. Michaels sewer system service area. A previous loan in the amount of $2,904,000 and grant in the amount of $6,841,000 had been obligated.
Secretary Vilsack announced the awards during the Rural Prosperity town hall at Edgecombe Community College as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s fourth Investing in America tour. Many of the projects announced today were made possible through historic investments from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Rural Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
Nationwide, USDA is providing $644.2 million to help 158 rural utilities provide clean drinking water and sanitary wastewater systems for 913,000 people in rural areas.
The Department is making investments through the Solid Waste Management Grants Program to help organizations provide technical assistance and training for rural communities and utilities to improve solid waste facilities. The assistance helps communities protect their local watersheds and the health of people living in rural areas.
USDA is also financing projects through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program to help state and local governments, private nonprofits and federally recognized Tribes build and improve rural wastewater systems. The funding enables rural communities to expand access to clean and reliable drinking water, sanitary waste disposal and stormwater drainage.
A full list of projects from today’s announcement is available online.
USDA’s most recent Rural America at a Glance report, published in November 2023, signals that the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments in rural American infrastructure, jobs and overall recovery are working. Specifically, the report found that the rural population is growing after a decade of overall population loss, with growth of approximately a quarter percent from 2020 to 2022. It also showed that rural employment levels and annual growth rates have nearly returned to those seen in the years prior to the pandemic.
In particular, the emergence of the clean energy economy is a growing employment sector, with clean energy jobs employing more than 243,000 workers in nonmetropolitan counties in 2021, and those jobs have continued to grow through the Biden-Harris Administration’s investments since. The rural population is also experiencing a decline in poverty. In 2021, 9.7 percent fewer nonmetropolitan counties experienced persistent poverty (county-level poverty rates of 20 percent or higher over the last 30 years) compared with a decade earlier.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural, tribal and high-poverty areas. Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.
To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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