Morrow County city to receive USDA resources for sewer system
Washington, D.C. –U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today announced the city of Ione will receive nearly $3.8 million in federal funds to build a sewer system for the Eastern Oregon town.
“Ensuring Oregon’s rural communities have the infrastructure their residents and small businesses need to grow and develop is paramount for our state’s overall economic health,” Wyden said. “In my Morrow County town hall and others in every corner of the state, I’ve heard how the need to modernize outdated infrastructure is an essential piece to achieve rural quality of life. Ione has worked tirelessly to upgrade its systems so homes keep their value, the new school is supported, and the community can grow.”
“Outdated sewer infrastructure is at greater risk of failing and limits growth and development opportunities for communities,” said Senator Merkley. “Investments such as this are critical not just for the safety of Ione community members, but also for helping the City and surrounding areas thrive.”
Ione lacks a community-wide wastewater collection or disposal system. Each residence and/or business has an individual septic tank and drain field, which limits community growth and development. The federal investment from USDA Rural Development is both a grant of $1.98 million and a loan of $1.81 million.
“Ione’s new wastewater system will stabilize the city’s housing market, provide a permanent solution for our school, and facilitate the construction of new homes in our community,” said Jerry Reitman, Volunteer Director of Development for the City of Ione. “Ione is adjacent to thousands of great jobs in Boardman and it will be great for our community to be able to expand housing options for families supported by those jobs.”
A web version of this release is here.
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