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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in the Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 32 Stories
OMB

Developing New Markets for Waste

In 2004, Joel and Jean Garland began operating a value added wood products business. In little more than a decade that sawmill has adapted, innovated, persisted, and advanced, all while remaining grounded in the small rural community of Lillie, Louisiana. Joel identified… [Read More]
Louisiana
BusinessWastewaterWater

Energy Efficient Sewer Treatment Coupled with Environmental Balance

The Milton Regional Sewer Authority (MRSA) needed to improve and expand their existing sewer treatment plant. The Pennsylvania Department of  Environmental Protection (DEP) mandated that all communities in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed comply with new lower standards for… [Read More]
Pennsylvania
WastewaterWater

Mammoth Spring Wastewater Treatment Plant Improvements

Outline Of Need: The City of Mammoth Spring is located in North Central Arkansas in Fulton County. They own and operate a public wastewater treatment facility. The City is positioned on a bluff overlooking the Spring River. The original wastewater treatment collection and… [Read More]
Arkansas
WastewaterWater
New Elva Strum WWTF

New Joint Commission Provides Improved Services to Residents

Residents and businesses in two northwestern Wisconsin communities now enjoy new public water and sewer service thanks to a partnership between the two communities and USDA Rural Development Both the Village of Eleva and the Village of Strum, located in Trempealeau County, were… [Read More]
Wisconsin
WastewaterWater

Safe, Reliable Water Source Comes to East Henry County

After years of uncertainty about whether it was safe to drink their water or if there would be enough, residents in rural Eastern Henry County in West Tennessee will now have access to safe, reliable water.  Private groundwater well contamination and the lack of a public… [Read More]
Tennessee
UtilitiesWastewaterWater
In 2015 USDA Rural Development worked with the town of Appomattox to fund a loan for $3.7 million and a grant for $1.8 million. The financial assistance allowed Appomattox to begin making vital repairs on its outdated sewer collection and treatment system

Sewer Repairs in Appomattox

When the town of Appomattox began inspecting its sewer collection and treatment system, which provides service to approximately 695 residential and 70 commercial connections, it found problems that were contributing to raw sewage overflows, incompliance with state code and… [Read More]
Virginia
UtilitiesWastewaterWater

Triumph by the Bay in Small Town USA by Janice Waddell

Down on California’s central coast, the small town of Los Osos has been on a journey. For the past thirty-three years, they’ve been looking for a sustainable solution to a critical problem: How do we protect the environment we live in while growing our community? Los Osos, a… [Read More]
California
Wastewater
This photo is from the April 22, 2014 groundbreaking ceremony for a new wastewater treatment project in Erie County, Ohio.

USDA-funded project diverts sewage from Lake Erie watershed

   With nearly 96 percent of the current systems in failure, Erie County Commissioners are using a $5.95 million USDA Rural Development wastewater loan and grant combination to replace on-site waste treatment systems that have been improperly discharging into and… [Read More]
Ohio
Wastewater
new lagoon system

Village of Creston Updates Its Sewer System

The Village of Creston was being served by a sewer system which had a two-cell waste stabilization lagoon system in 1969.  The existing lagoon system lacked sufficient storage capacity and the discharge lines were leaking.  Additionally, the lagoons were constructed in… [Read More]
Nebraska
WastewaterWater
Davey's new retention lagoon

Village of Davey Gets New Lagoons

  Davey’s lagoons were almost 50 years old and needed to be updated as they were out of compliance with the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) E. coli limits. There was also a new NDEQ discharge limit for ammonia which was included.  The Village of… [Read More]
Nebraska
Community FacilitiesWastewaterWater

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