Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants

• The Department of Agriculture sponsors the Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grant program, which provides financial assistance to low-income rural areas to improve its water and waste systems. Grants are used to construct, enlarge and expand water and waste systems, extend service lines and connect individual residences to a system. Funds also cover fees for connecting homes to the waste systems, installing plumbing lines and related fixtures and entire bathrooms in homes if necessary.
  
  

Construction Grants for Wastewater Treatment Works

• The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, funds construction grants for municipalities to improve their wastewater treatment works. Grants cover the costs to build wastewater systems servicing individual communities, metropolitan or regional areas. Privately owned individual treatment systems are also paid for with grant funds. Projects costs are cover up to 55 percent by grants awarded after Sept. 30, 1984, and up to 75 if awarded before Oct.1, 1984.
  
  

Community Entitlement Grants

• Constructing and extending water and sewer lines in urban areas are paid for with grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD. The Community Entitlement grant program funds other capital projects such as demolishing unsafe facilities, and acquiring land and renovating and improving existing public infrastructures. These grants are available to cities with more than 50,000 residents and counties with more than 200,000 residents respectively.
  
  

Grants for Public Works and Economic Development Facilities

• Extending water and sewer lines are some of the projects under the Public Works and Economic Development Facilities program. Funded by the Department of Commerce, grants cover the costs of constructing, renovating and improving the sewer systems and other public facilities in communities to generate or retain jobs in the private sectors. Generally grants cover up to 50 percent of the project costs but areas that cannot borrow money for necessary public facility repairs and renovations may receive up to 100 percent funding.