Submitted by Dr. Christine Pappas
ADA, Okla. – In 2022, the Oklahoma Rural Water Association (ORWA) and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) teamed up to offer the Rural Infrastructure Grant to communities struggling to maintain their water and wastewater systems. Brandon Bowman has been the State Programs Director since the program began.
The words “Rural Infrastructure Grant” (RIG) don’t usually make people excited, but if communities don’t have water, they cannot grow and eventually they will die. RIG is available to communities with 3300 or fewer people. Targeted investments can improve regulatory compliance and protect public health. Many projects are covered, from planning to lift stations and leak repair. The grants can amount to as much as $100,000 with a 20% match.
“We want to say yes,” Bowman said. RIG has funded approximately 350 projects in the last three years and staff is getting ready to make more grants in year four. “I want to see every system that qualifies get one,” Bowman said. The grant application is only two pages and is designed to be very simple.
The grant selection committee is made up of career water experts from DEQ and ORWA. ORWA is not a state agency but a non-profit technical assistance provider. The goal is to provide “environmentally and economically sound treatment of water and wastewater,” Bowman said.
Water infrastructure – the pipes and treatment plants that provide life-giving water to our communities – does not last forever. Pipes may last 15-100 years. Treatment plants may operate for 20-50 years. What happens in a small community when there is a breakdown? Water may be subject to a boil order. Sewage lagoons may overtop their banks. Worse, the taps may run dry and people are left to scramble. Other roadblocks systems face include a backlog of financial audits, broken computer hardware, or lack of backup power.
There is not enough money to fix every problem. There are not enough water plant operators and public works managers to even know what all the problems are. However, for some communities in Oklahoma, there is a resource designed to fill the gap. The Oka Institute’s Community Hub can connect small communities to the dollars needed to address water and wastewater issues. The Oka Community Hub works with the Chickasaw Nation’s Office of Natural Resources to identify communities that fit the RIG requirements and to prepare applications.
Most communities know they need help. They may even know that the RIG money or other grants are out there. However, they don’t have the time or expertise to submit the grant proposals. That’s where the Community Hub team can step in. In the last year, the team brought in over $1 million in funding that goes directly to communities through RIG, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, and other grants.
Close relationships and trust are the keys that lead to the success of the Communities Hub. Community leaders are skeptical of outsiders who contact them only when they need something. That is not the way the Community Hub works. Oka Institute Community Hub Coordinator Joseph Harris and Turner Brewer, Chickasaw Nation Community Environmental Sustainability Manager are constant partners of the communities.
For more information about RIG, please email rig@orwa.org. To view the application, visit https://orwa.org/rig/.
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