Federal grant programs / Department of Agriculture

Rural Decentralized Water Systems Grant Program (10.862)

Also known as DWS

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$16.3 million
• Grant awards33
• Typical award$295,344
• Awarded in FY 2025$3.9 million
• Size rank1,374 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceProject grants

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $3.4 million in fiscal 2021 to $3.9 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 1374th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 12 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 10 states and territories.

What the program funds

To make grants to private, nonprofit organizations to finance the construction, refurbishing and servicing of individually-owned household water well and/or wastewater systems in rural areas for individuals with low or moderate income.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

An applicant must be a private organization, organized as a non-profit corporation. The applicant must have the legal capacity and authority to perform the obligations of the grant. The applicant must have sufficient expertise and experience in lending activities and promoting the safe and productive use of individually-owned household water well systems and ground water.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Grant funds will be used by eligible entities to establish and maintain a revolving loan fund to provide loans to eligible individuals to construct, refurbish, and service individually-owned household water well and/or wastewater systems. Eligible individuals must own or will own the household water well or individual wastewater system. Loans will be made at a fixed rate of one-percent with a twenty year term. The maximum amount per loan is $11,000. Funds may be used to pay administrative expenses associated with providing the loans. Grant funds may not be used to pay (1) administrative expenses exceeding 10 percent of the loans made during the calendar year; (2) administrative expenses incurred before the Rural Utilities Service executes a grant agreement; (3) delinquent debt owed to the Federal Government; (4) costs of home plumbing system.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Applicants must provide funds from sources other than the HWWS grant. The required match must be at least 10 percent of the HWWS grant. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Deadlines do not apply

Award range and average, in the agency's words

$239,233 to $2,000,000. Avg. $666,071.

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: Funding used to establish a revolving loan fund to provide low interest loans to homeowners that will be used to repair or replace failing private water wells or wastewater systems. Project used funding to increase potable water availability and safe wastewater systems to low-income households in eligible high-need rural counties across America.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Nonprofits received 71% of the money.

By state

5 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Virginia and California.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.