PRINEVILLE, OR -- USDA Rural Development announced millions of dollars coming to four Oregon communities to address water issues. USDA RD State Director Margi Hoffman says funded projects include updating damaged equipment used to supply drinking water to a portion of Crook County, "Modernizing our infrastructure, particularly our water infrastructure to ensure that every single Oregonian and the rural Oregonians that we serve have access to clean and safe drinking water, is paramount."

The money is coming to Oregon as part of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Package. Hoffman acknowledges a lot of infrastructure attention is focused on improving airports, highways and bridges. But, she says money isn’t just flowing to urban centers, "For rural development, that looks like investments in broadband connectivity across the board - so, making sure that every single person in the United States is connected to the internet for telehealth purposes, or to enable precision agriculture. And, we have been working a lot on the municipal water systems throughout the state, particularly with those communities that have been devastated by fire."

Aside from Crook County's Ochoco West Water and Sanitary Authority, the $28 million in grants and loans will help the city of Brookings upgrade pump stations in Curry County and replace damaged equipment in the city of Gold Hill in Jackson County. Lincoln County's Panther Creek Water District will also be able to shore up a hillside that burned in 2020 and puts a water system at risk of a landslide. "I can’t overstate the importance of these critical drinking water systems," says Hoffman, "And nobody experiences that like somebody who no longer has access to potable water, or all of a sudden is on a boil water notice."