Household Water Well Program | RDRUS 20 01 HWWS

Opportunity Information: Apply for RDRUS 20 01 HWWS

The Household Water Well Program (HWWS), offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Utilities Programs, is a discretionary grant opportunity designed to expand access to safe, reliable household water for people with low to moderate incomes. Instead of giving money directly to homeowners, the program funds organizations that can set up and operate a revolving loan fund. That revolving loan fund is then used to make loans to eligible individuals who need to install or improve a household water well system for a home they own or will own. Because it is revolving, loan repayments can be re-lent to help additional households over time, allowing the original grant dollars to support multiple projects across a community.

Grant funds under this opportunity must primarily be used to establish and maintain the revolving loan fund that will issue household well loans. Borrowers can use those loans for core well-related work, including constructing a new well, refurbishing an existing system, rehabilitating a failing well, or replacing a well system that no longer functions or no longer meets needs. The program draws a clear boundary on what counts as an eligible well system expense: eligible improvements extend up to the "point of entry" of the home. In other words, covered work includes the well and equipment needed to get pumped water to the point where it enters the home, but not interior household plumbing beyond that junction. The notice defines the point of entry as the junction where water enters the home water delivery system after being pumped from the well, which helps applicants and lenders distinguish between well system components versus in-home distribution upgrades.

The grant can also support administrative costs tied to running the loan program. This recognizes that successful lending requires real operational capacity, such as processing applications, underwriting and servicing loans, tracking repayments, maintaining compliance records, and providing customer support to borrowers. By allowing reasonable administrative expenses, USDA aims to make it practical for eligible entities to manage the revolving loan fund responsibly while still focusing the bulk of funding on lending activity that directly benefits households.

From the source details provided, this opportunity is listed as "Household Water Well Program" with Funding Opportunity Number RDRUS 20 01 HWWS and CFDA number 10.862. The activity areas align with agriculture, community development, environment, and health, reflecting how household well access affects public health and basic living standards in rural and underserved areas. The agency is the Department of Agriculture, Utilities Programs. The posting date (creation date) was March 5, 2020, with an original closing date of May 31, 2020. The listing indicates an expected 10 awards, while the award ceiling is shown as 0 in the summary data, which typically means the cap was not specified in that field or would be detailed in the full notice. Eligibility is broadly summarized as "Others" with a note to consult the full eligibility language, implying that specific organizational types and requirements are described in the complete announcement rather than in the short summary.

• The Department of Agriculture, Utilities Programs in the agriculture, community development, environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Household Water Well Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.862.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 05, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 31, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for RDRUS 20 01 HWWS

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