Critical rural infrastructure projects in 46 states are now in line to receive more than $5.2 billion in federal construction funds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the funding will go for the building of high-speed internet, clean water, and electricity system projects in both residences and businesses in rural areas.
In announcing the funding, Tom Vilsack, secretary of the Agriculture Department, remarked: “When we invest in rural infrastructure, we invest in the livelihoods and health of people in rural America.”
Projects in New Mexico are receiving a total of nearly $20 million in grants and loans, which includes $9 million for the building of a high-speed network for the Mescalero Apache tribe.
The City of Truth or Consequences is receiving $7.5 million in financing for the phase two replacement of water lines; while the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is getting a $1.8 million grant to install fiber and wireless networks in both New Mexico and Northern Arizona.
The Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority, meanwhile, is receiving a combined loan and grant financing for the upgrading of a water system in the southern New Mexico town of Berino.
The town of Aguilar in southern Colorado is receiving $5.7 million in loans and grants for the building of an augmentation reservoir; with $85.5 funding the modernization of a water system in the town of Aristocrat Ranchettes in northeastern Colorado.
The Agriculture Department is additionally awarding nearly $8 million in loans and grants for the Morrison Creek Metro Water & Sanitation District to build a new wastewater treatment plant in northwestern Colorado; while $4.5 million will go to the North La Junta Sanitation District in southeastern Colorado, also for a new wastewater treatment plant project.
Altogether, nearly 360 individual rural infrastructure projects nationally are receiving USDA grant and loan support.
By Garry Boulard