Rural Water Assistance Fund (RWAF) Program
| Jurisdiction: | Texas |
| Incentive Type: | Loan Program |
| Industries: | Infrastructure, Technology, Health And Safety |
| Eligible Sector: | Government |
| Category: | Financial Incentive |
| Time Period: | FY 2015 |
| Governing Body: | Texas Water development board |
| What’s it worth?: | Not mentioned |
The Rural Water Assistance Fund Program has been established to provide small, rural utility companies with low-cost financing for water and wastewater projects. Projects may include:
- Water-related projects
– Desalination
– Purchase of well fields
– Purchase of rights to produce ground water
– State water plan
– Regional water plan
– Acquisition of groundwater and surface water rights
- Water quality enhancement projects
– Wastewater collection
– Wastewater treatment
– Onsite or wetland wastewater treatment facilities
Funds may be used for planning, design, and construction of all projects. Funds from this program may also be used to assist rural utility companies to obtain water or wastewater service supplied by larger surrounding organizations.
Loan terms may have a maximum of 40 years and nonprofit water supply corporations are tax-exempt. Eligible participants must complete a funding application that include general system information:
- Customer base
- Operating budget
- Financial statements
- Preliminary engineering planning
- Environmental information
- Project information
Priority is given to areas of the highest need and biggest impact projects. Application processing takes an average of 60 – 90 days depending on the time of submission.
Eligible participant must complete the engineering and regulator requirements specified in the application guidance materials. Upon approval participants must submit request documents and enter into an agreement with the program. Funds are put into escrow and released by TWDB when the participant is ready to use the funds. More information can be found on the TWDB website.
