The Water Well Trust, the only national nonprofit helping low-income Americans get access to a clean, safe water supply, has announced that it is expanding from fourteen to fifteen the number of Arkansas counties eligible to receive assistance for drilling a new water well or rehabilitate an existing well.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded a $200,000 matching grant to the Water Well Trust (WWT) for a project to increase potable water availability to households in rural Arkansas counties, including Benton, Boone, Carroll, Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, Logan, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Searcy, Sebastian, Union, and Washington. The WWT has now expanded eligibility to another county: Baxter.
The USDA grant monies will provide long-term, low-interest loans to applicants seeking new or improved water wells in the fifteen-county area.
To be eligible to receive a WWT loan, applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence, which must be an existing permanent structure and may not be a new construction. 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 2019 median non-metropolitan household income for Arkansas is $52,100. 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, fill out the application online, or request an application be mailed to you.
