ROANOKE, Va. - Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project Inc. has announced it has received $988,100 from the United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development to create a loan program for homeowners needing to repair or construct water wells for their residences.

The new loan program is specifically designed to assist low- to moderateincome individuals needing loans to construct, refurbish and service their household well systems. Loans from the program cannot be used for other purposes.

The program will serve residents in the seven states comprising Southeast RCAP's service region: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The purpose of the program is to target loans to the significant numbers of homeowners in the seven states whose geographically isolated households lack water service, and for whom it is not feasible to be connected to new or existing community water systems.

Loan applicants must own and occupy the home for which they are applying for a water well loan. The water well system being funded may not be associated with the construction of a new dwelling. Also the water well system being funded by the loan may not be used to substitute for water service available from collective water systems.

The home using the water well system being funded by the loan must be located in a rural area. The combined household income for an individual applying for a loan under this program should not be more than 100 percent of the median non-metropolitan household income for the state. Priority will be given to applicants who are disabled, elderly, or who have minor children.

The loans have a one percent interest rate and a 20- year repayment term. A maximum of $8,000 per household may be borrowed under this program.

In the seven states of the Southeast RCAP service region, between one-eighth and one-third of all homeowners rely on wells. In all, over 105,000 occupied households in the seven state region lack complete indoor plumbing. It is expected that many of these households would be eligible for loans to create water well systems for their homes.

Loan applications will be available soon on the Southeast RCAP website, www.southeastrcap.org. Interested parties may also contact the agency directly for more information: Beth T. Pusha, Director of Loan Fund Programs, Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project Inc., Loan Fund, P.O.Box 2868, Roanoke, VA 24001- 2868; Phone: 540-345-1184; Fax: 540.342.2932; e-mail: bpusha@sercap.org.