County may be too wealthy for state help with pipes - Gazette

by Margie Hyslop | Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 11, 2009o

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission won't know until late this week whether state environmental officials will recommend it for federal stimulus money to shore up its drinking water pipes that ruptured at a record rate last year.

The problem for the bicounty utility is that state officials are unsure whether the WSSC qualifies for the federal grants because the money is being distributed under the Environmental Protection Agency's clean water and drinking water quality programs, which traditionally allow grants and no-interest loans only to "disadvantaged" communities. Montgomery and Prince George's counties might be deemed too wealthy .

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