In the quarter ending Sept. 30, 2016, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) closed 13 loans totaling nearly $2 million to assist rural communities in Alaska, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Washington.

Elk City is similar to many small, isolated, rural towns in the West where residents mostly rely on themselves. With so few residents, it’s fallen upon Elk City to organize to a volunteer fire department, emergency medical services and, in recent years, an all-volunteer water management team. Now, the town’s most pressing need is to improve its wastewater treatment.

All children get stomachaches, Melanie Whelchel thought when her 3-year-old son Jessen suffered yet another one in 2013. At the time, she blamed a virus, although Jessen had been vomiting. Even an X-ray of a lump on Jessen’s abdomen indicated harmless constipation. But during one feverish middle-of-the-night attack, with Jessen curled up in agony, a frantic Whelchel rushed him to an emergency room in Chico, where they live.

Coachella Valley Agua4All program evaluation shows increased water consumption: More than one million Californians lack access to safe drinking water—a little known fact in a state bountiful in agriculture and renowned for its technological industry. For these Californians, the only alternatives to unsafe water are expensive bottled water or sugary beverages, and at a time when one in three Latinos and nearly half of California adults are pre-diabetic.

Three Rivers, Calif. – The 2,600 residents who call Three Rivers home take pride in the peaceful landscape near Sequoia National Park. … Despite its beautiful surroundings, it became clear two years ago that a small Three Rivers community’s water supply was in danger, so residents called on Rural Community Assistance Corporation for help.