General Information on the Rural Water Supply Program
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Title I of the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act, P.L. 109-451 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, to establish a program to work with small communities in rural areas on a cost-shared basis throughout the Reclamation states to assess their potable water supply needs and to identify options to address those needs.
The Reclamation states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
To acheive this objective, Reclamation will work with these communities to investigate opportunities to ensure safe and adequate rural water supply projects for domestic, municipal, and industrial use; plan the design and construction of rural water supply projects through the conduct of appraisal investigations and feasibility studies; and oversee, as appropriate, the construction of rural water supply projects that are recommended for construction by Reclamation in a feasibility report developed under the Rural Water Supply Program, and subsequently authorized by Congress.
Under the Act, a rural water supply project means a project that is designed to provide domestic, industrial, municipal, or residential water to a small community or group of small communities, inlcuding Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
For the purpose of the Rural Water Program, a small community is defined as having a population of no more than 50,000 people. More than one small community may be served by a rural water project if each small community has a population of 50,000 or less. Rural water projects may not include commercial irrigation or major impoundment structures.
For more information contact your local representative.
Last updated: 5/12/10