USDA funds available to communities trying solve stormwater runoff problems

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering grants to small, rural communities to help them deal with stormwater runoff problems.

USDA announced on Monday the latest round of grants awarded through its Water & Waste Disposal Loan & Grant Program.

Rural communities, water districts and other eligible entities can use the funds for drinking water, stormwater drainage and waste disposal systems. The projects must be in rural communities with 10,000 or fewer residents.

Funding, whether low-interest loans or grants, is available to qualified applicants who are not otherwise able to obtain commercial credit on reasonable terms, including most state and local governments, private nonprofits and federally-recognized tribes.

Funds may be used to finance the acquisition, construction or improvement of drinking water sourcing, treatment, storage and distribution; sewer collection, transmission, treatment and disposal; solid waste collection, disposal and closure; and stormwater collection, transmission and disposal.

In Pennsylvania, municipalities with a municipal separate storm sewer system, or MS4, must develop a pollutant reduction plan with a goal toward reducing pollution in state waters or reducing discharges into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Murrysville is in the process of retrofitting a half-dozen detention ponds so that they will hold more stormwater for a longer period time.