Tester Announces $3.5 Million to Upgrade Sanders County Waste & Water Systems

(Missoula, Mont.) – U.S. Senator Jon Tester announced today that Sanders County will receive a $3.5 million loan from the USDA to improve its water and waste disposal systems.

“Reliable waste and water systems are critical to healthy, thriving communities,” Tester said. “Businesses, schools, families, you name it-everyone needs clean water and proper waste disposal.”

Sanders County’s current waste transfer station is nearly 30 years old and located on leased land that the lessor has declined to renew. So this loan will be used to construct a solid waste transfer station near Thompson Falls while also upgrading container collection sites in Heron, Noxon, Trout Creek and Plains.

“Sanders County could not have moved forward with creating the new Solid Waste Transfer Station without this grant from USDA,” said Carol Brooker, one of the Sanders County Commissioners. “The County had to move from its old site, so of course we needed a new station because it’s so important to the health of our community.”

Tester helped secure the loan through USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Disposal grant and loan program, which specifically targets communities with fewer than 10,000 residents. These investments will not only improve water quality and waste treatment throughout Sanders County, but create jobs through the construction of new infrastructure.

Tester has pushed to boost funding for USDA Rural Development’s Water and Waste Disposal grant and loan program through his work on the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.