The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office in Virginia today announced it will award Greensville County Water and Sewer Authority a $22 million loan and a $2 million grant to be used in updating the county’s water system.
“Our water and wastewater loan and grant programs empower counties and towns across Virginia to host business, industry and residential expansion, and Greensville is a shining example of how a project can empower a community,” said Basil Gooden, Ph.D., Virginia’s USDA Rural Development State Director. “We are establishing critical infrastructure that is needed in order for economic development to take hold. Both the infrastructure and the development that our loan/grant combination enables will benefit the entire region for many years to come.”
Improvements are necessary, in part, to accommodate Dominion Virginia Power’s new natural gas-fueled power station. Need for an updated system has also emerged from nearly 100-year-old water pipes throughout the county and also from recent drought conditions in and around the Meherrin River.
Construction will include a 500,000-gallon water storage tank, two new booster stations, approximately 50,000 linear feet of water line and raw water mains, a new raw water intake and pump station, and a 900-million-gallon reservoir that can be accessed when river levels are low.
USDA funds for the project were made available through the department’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, which provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal and storm water drainage.
The total project cost is $46.2 million. Funding beyond what USDA Rural Development is providing will come from public and private entities as well as from local connection fees.
In 2015, USDA Rural Development invested more than $35 million in Virginia through 32 water infrastructure loans and grants.
USDA Rural Development in 2015 invested more than $1 billion in rural Virginia through 40 loan, grant and loan guarantee programs in housing, business, agriculture, energy, health care and community facilities. It has employees stationed in 14 offices across the commonwealth to better serve residents where they live and to improve the economy and quality of life in rural Virginia.