New Castle, Del. – U.S. Senators Tom Carper, Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Congressman John Carney announced today the City of New Castle was awarded a United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant for $500,000 to install filtration equipment to the water system for the towns drinking water. The grant money was awarded this summer and work on the new filtration system was completed earlier this week. This new system removes Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) contaminants.

The “Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant” came just in time as Municipal Commission Services of New Castle had to temporarily shut down the wells due to the high level of these contaminants. This new filtration system will supplant the temporary resolution of renting filtration equipment that has been in place for one year. The City of New Castle is located in a rural area, with a population of 5,285.

This award through the “Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant Program” is only the second time in Delaware that this program has been utilized. The first time was in 2001 for the Town of Selbyville when two of three wells were out of service.

It is not often that Rural Development programs are utilized in New Castle County. Over the last decade in New Castle County, USDA Rural Development has provided more than $234 million in funding; this represents approximately 18% of the overall funding provided to DE during the same time period.

Funding has gone to housing ($209 million with 95% for homeownership loans through the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Program), utilities ($3.9 million with City of New Castle Water Grant and water extension project North of Duck Creek Smyrna), community facilities ($19 million), business ($1.9 million  with First State Community Loan Fund, based in Wilmington received the bulk of this funding to assist with micro-loans for small businesses in each of the counties).

Some of the larger community facilities projects that USDA-RD have assisted in New Castle County include MOT Charter School, the C&D Canal trailhead connector and repairs to the DE City Library.

“When a community is in need, it can take a joint effort to remediate the problem,” said Sen. Carper. “USDA Rural Development stepped in and provided nearly half the cost to provide safe water again to the residents of New Castle. You don’t often see USDA Rural Development’s footprint up here in New Castle County, but they have helped schools and local municipalities meet their urgent needs. Down in Kent and Sussex, they have provided loans and grants to schools, city and police buildings, daycares and more. USDA Rural Development is a great example of using tax dollars to help the citizens and parts of our state and country that need it the most.”

“Clean drinking water is a basic necessity of life,” said Sen. Coons. “The news of a new filtration system for New Castle’s 5,000 plus residents and businesses is welcome news. Thank you to the quick work State of Delaware’s Health and Social Service for discovering the dangerous chemicals in the well water and thanks to USDA-RD, the town’s residents are back to clean drinking water.”

“Access to safe drinking water is one of the building blocks of a community,” said Congressman Carney.  “It impacts every resident and business in the area.  New Castle’s new water filtration system supports 5,000 Delawareans, and ensures that they can continue to live healthy lives.  I’m thankful for the USDA’s $500,000 investment, as well as the state and local partners who worked together to get this project done.”

“Clean, safe and reliable water is essential for any community to thrive and grow,” said State Director McGowan. “USDA Rural Development builds or improves water systems for communities that do not have the financial resources to afford expensive, vital infrastructure and for those that have urgent health and safety concerns with their local water resources.”