Water Well Trust Receives USDA Grant for South Carolina & New York Water Well Projects

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Oct 19, 2016, 08:40 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --The Water Well Trust, the only national nonprofit helping Americans get access to a clean, safe water supply, has received a third grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Household Water Well Systems program for a project to increase potable water availability to rural households in seven South Carolina counties and three New York counties.

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The USDA grant will fund Water Well Trust projects in seven central South Carolina counties, including Darlington, Lee, Marion, Sumter, Clarendon, Williamsburg, and Orangeburg, as well as three New York counties, including Delaware, Rensselaer and Columbia.

The grant monies will provide long-term, low-interest loans to applicants seeking new or improved water wells in the seven South Carolina and three New York counties. WWT limits funding to a maximum of $11,000 per household. Loans have an interest rate of 1% with terms of up to 20 years.

To qualify for a WWT loan, applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence. In addition, the applicant's household income must not exceed 100% of the median non-metropolitan household income for the state in which the applicant resides. The 2016 Non-Metropolitan median household income is $44,200 for South Carolina and $58,900 for New York. The income criteria apply to both the applicant and all other occupants of the home.

Prospective applicants can download the application form and instruction letter from the Water Well Trust website at waterwelltrust.org under "Apply" at the top of the home page.

The Water Systems Council established the Water Well Trust in 2010 to provide clean, sanitary drinking water to Americans who lack access to a reliable water supply and to construct and document small community water systems using water wells to demonstrate that these systems are more economical.

In 2014, the Water Well Trust received its first USDA grant for a project to increase potable water availability to rural households in northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma. That grant was used to drill or rehabilitate 23 water wells, providing over 100 individuals with new access to safe drinking water.

In 2015, the WWT received a second USDA grant to drill new water wells or rehabilitate existing wells in 13 Georgia counties, including Colquitt, Grady, Hancock, Hart, Jones, Macon, Monroe, Murray, Twiggs, Warren, Washington, Wilcox and Worth. That grant will be used to fund at least 22 wells.