6.8 million granted to Eastern Shore

Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski was in Easton on Tuesday, where she announced 6.8 million dollars will be put towards the Eastern Shore.

USDA Rural Development awarded 2.1 million dollars in grants,. with the remaining 4.8 million in low-interest loans.

According to Senator Mikulski, the money will go toward various water and sewer projects. The funds are being divided among six counties including Queen Anne’s, Caroline, Talbot, Dorchester, Somerset, and Worcester.

It’s set to fund various projects, primarily getting residents off of septic tanks and improving infrastructure for water sewers. According to Senator Mikulski, they appear to be aging and “failing” in some parts of the shore and are in danger of not meeting federal guidelines.

“There’s a lot of federal and environmental regulations to comply with and we want to make sure that if you have federal mandates, you have federal money to help meet those mandates.” She says.

Senator Mikulski says these projects can be expected to start as early as this fall.