Three Midlands communities are getting a jump-start on flood-related projects through the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA has signed a new agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency that will get funding to disaster-related water needs faster.
Communities will be able to apply for low or no cost loans from the EPA’s state revolving funds to fill in gaps while they wait for some FEMA money to come in. FEMA would eventually reimburse the loan.
The first communities to use this new assistance are Hamburg and Glenwood in Iowa and Boyd County in Nebraska.
Boyd County, for example, had a rural water district pipeline wiped out after floodwaters and ice jams destroyed the Spencer Dam. The rural water district in April said it faced a $1.1 million bill to bore a new supply line.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a press release about the new agreement: “This is great news for the state of Iowa and every community recovering from severe floods that occurred earlier this year.”
