At the monthly meeting of the Burney Water Board (BWD), held on December 15, BWD Manager Willie Rodriguez announced that the Rural Community Assistance Corporation had completed their survey to accurately determine the Median Household Income (MHI) of BWD customers.
Nineteen percent of BWD customers responded to the first mailing of the survey. No second mailing or door to door survey was necessary because the 263 responses were sufficient under state and federal agency guidelines to make the determination that the Median Household Income of the Burney Water District is $36,000.
This result indicates that the MHI of the Burney Water District is less that 60% of the current state MHI. The MHI for the state of California will be slightly adjusted in the beginning of 2017, but Rodriquez expects that BWD will still be under the 60% determination.
If so, BWD will be reclassified as a “Severely Disadvantaged Community.” As a result, BWD will qualify for 81-100% loan forgiveness for loans received from the State Water Resources Control Board’s State Revolving Funding Programs established under Proposition 1.
BWD can apply for up to $8 million in loans for infrastructure renewal projects. Rodriquez said that the application process can take 1-3 months and state approval could take 6-9 months, making the total application and approval process 7-12 months.
Currently, the Board is looking at two proposed projects. The first is to make necessary improvements to the BWD sewage treatment plant, and the second is to repair and replace sewage infrastructure based up studies of the system that were conducted in the past year.
If the application process goes smoothly and the funding is granted, work on these projects could commence within a year and be completed by 2020.
For more information on the survey results and proposed projects, contact:
Willie Rodriguez, District Manager of the Burney Water District
Phone: 530-335-3582
Email: districtmanager@burenywater.org
Pit River Country 