Illinois QC regional communities win clean water grants

Carbon Cliff and Andover will share in more than $4.6 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants and loans to improve their villages’ drinking water.

Carbon Cliff will receive $2.27 million to construct a new water treatment plant that will use reverse osmosis to remove radium from the Rock Island County village’s existing deep well water sources and alleviate a health and sanitary issue, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, announced in a Friday news release.

Andover, located in Henry County, will receive a $1.73 million loan and a $250,000 grant. It will be used to drill a new well as a second water source and replace the gas chlorine system at the water treatment plant with a sodium hypochlorite system. New chemical feed pumps also will be installed. The project is designed to improve the village’s water system to better serve residents Rep. Bustos said.

The money is from the USDA’s Water and Waste Disposal Loans and Grants program, which provides funding for clean and reliable drinking water systems, sanitary sewage disposal, sanitary solid waste disposal, and storm water drainage to households and businesses in eligible rural areas. More information on the program can be found here.

“Since Day One, I’ve been focused on bringing federal resources back to our communities – from our largest cities to our smallest villages,” Rep. Bustos said in also announcing $2.3 million in grants to benefit Jo Daviess County in the Illinois 17th Congressional District. 

That money earmarked for Jo-Carrol Energy in Elizabeth is from the USDA’s Community Connect Program that provides financial assistance to eligible applicants to provide broadband service in rural, economically-challenged communities where service does not exist. Rural areas that lack any existing broadband speed of at least 10 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream are eligible. More information on the program can be found here. 

“I’m thrilled to announce today that three counties in Northwest and Central Illinois will be receiving more than $6.6 million in grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand high-speed internet access and improve drinking water infrastructure for our residents and businesses,” Rep. Bustos said. “This is how we build back better.”