The Water Well Trust, a national nonprofit helping rural Americans get access to a clean, safe water supply, has partnered with H2Alabama, a nonprofit organization that provides clean water to families in rural Alabama, to help fund the construction of water wells in the Black Belt region.

The Water Well Trust provides funding to low-income homeowners with wells that are no longer functioning properly, have contamination issues that render the well unusable, or have no well or safe water source. The Water Well Trust also provides funding for septic systems.

The Water Well Trust is using a USDA grant and matching funds from the Water Systems Council to provide long-term, low-interest loans to Alabama applicants seeking new or improved water wells and septic systems. Loans have an interest rate of 1% with terms of up to 20 years. Funding is limited to a maximum of $15,000 for a well and $15,000 for a septic system.

To date, the Water Well Trust has been involved in drilling or rehabilitating some 460 water wells and more than two dozen septic systems serving more than 500 households across the U.S., many of which were USDA projects.

The WWT/H2Alabama partnership will focus on the following Alabama Black Belt counties: Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox.

To qualify for a Water Well Trust loan, applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence, which cannot be new construction, and must not have access to a public water supply. The applicant’s household income must not exceed 60% of the median non-metropolitan household income for the state in which the applicant resides; in 2023 this is $37,920 for Alabama. The income criteria apply to the applicant and all other occupants of the home.

Prospective applicants can fill out an online interest form or request an application by contacting the Water Well Trust at 833-539-8200 or H2Alabama at 251-222-5278, or by emailing [email protected].

For more information, visit waterwelltrust.org.