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RCAC assists Coyote Creek with water system challenges
Loan Fund Project Hightlight
Where: Coyote Creek, New Mexico
Need: Short-term financing to pay for engineering and project audits to enable this Colonia to place its new water well in service.
Solution: A $40,000, two-year loan from RCAC to be repaid by the USDA when engineering and audit work is complete.
Coyote Creek is a Colonia with inadequate water service, and a very high incidence of substandard housing conditions. Water service is provided to 203 low-income households of Coyote Creek, however the community does not own its water supply, which consists of a well and two springs. The supply doesn’t provide enough water to meet resident needs and it doesn’t meet safe drinking water standards.
The community has secured three USDA-RUS grants totaling $1,229,361, which allowed the community to drill a new well, install a new pump and pump house, and install a 5,000 gallon storage tank. However, during well drilling, a problem occurred, which stalled progress on the community’s project.
USDA committed to providing more grant funds to complete the improvements to the system, but required the district to complete additional engineering work and an audit of project costs to date to determine the additional funds needed. Unfortunately, USDA would not advance the funds for these new requirements, and in fact the audit was ruled ineligible for funding. RCAC made two loans totaling $40,000 to get the project back on track. The $10,000 in audit expenses will be repaid by the district over five years, while the engineering costs will be reimbursed by the USDA funding.
RCAC environmental staff members also worked with the community to identify potential funding sources, and complete a funding plan and strategy.
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