The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is seeking applications for grants to help very small communities expand or improve water and waste treatment facilities.
Rural Development's Water and Waste Disposal Revolving Loan Funds Program does not provide grants directly to individuals, businesses, or communities. Instead, qualified private nonprofits will use the grants to establish lending programs to help extend or improve water and waste disposal systems in rural communities with a population of 10,000 or less. The revolving loan fund may provide loans of up to $100,000 for a maximum term of 10 years.
The loans can be used for pre-development planning costs and for short-term capital improvement projects that are not part of the regular operation or maintenance of the water or waste system. The interest rate charged to communities is determined by the nonprofit in the approved grant work plan.
The deadline to apply is May 27, 2019. Applications may be submitted online through grants.gov or mailed to the following address:
USDA Rural Development
Rural Utilities Service
Water and Environmental Programs
ATTN: Derek Jones, Mail STOP 1570, Room 2233-S
1400 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20250-1570
Applicants may request technical assistance or other application guidance from Rural Development by submitting requests to derek.jones@wdc.usda.gov by no later than May 11, 2019. For additional information, including details on how to apply, see the Funding Opportunity Notice RDRUS-19-01-RLF.