For nearly 2 million rural Americans, access to safe drinking water is a pipe dream. Lacking sufficient funds, local governments are unable to supply this most basic necessity.
The Water Systems Council (WSC) established the Water Well Trust (WWT) in 2010 to provide wells for Americans who do not have a safe drinking water supply. The WWT does this by providing low-interest financing for wells for impoverished households where the cost to local governments to supply water to these households is prohibitive.
The Water Well Trust recently celebrated the drilling of its 100th water well for a single mother with three children in South Carolina. In her WWT application, she wrote:
“I am currently a single mom trying to provide for my children as much as I can. Unfortunately, I have to buy water at the grocery store if I want my kids to have clean water. I am not able to afford a water well. They are about what I make in six weeks. I went to the county to see if we could get city water and they said not in the area I live. They suggested a water well. Please help me and my children to have safe water in our home.”
With funding provided by grants from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Household Water Well Systems Grant program and donations from WSC member companies, the WWT has completed water well projects in Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
To meet the requirements to receive a WWT loan, applicants must meet certain income criteria and be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence. Learn more about the program and download an application form at www.waterwelltrust.org.
