$2.5M headed to Ocean Pines addressing water quality concerns

OCEAN PINES, Md.- “With the USDA Rural Development money, they’re helping us protect this community,” Young said.

The St. Martin’s By the Bay community in Ocean Pines has been prone to outages due to its 40-year-old water system.

Now with Worcester County receiving $2.5 million from USDA’s Rural Development’s program, County Chief Administrative Officer Weston Young says a possible solution is on the horizon. “With any property, if your water source or sewer source is threatened that could potentially lead to condemning the building,” Young said.

“The ultimate goal is to get those homeowners and those properties connected to clean water.”

The funds include a $1 million grant and a $1.5 million loan that will be paid off by those properties during a 40-year period. The project will connect 58 properties in the area, totaling 140 people, to the Ocean Pines water system.

USDA Rural Development State Director David Baker says the move not only improves water quality. “One of the other concerns is saltwater intrusion. They’re close to a waterway there and that’s creates an issue,” Baker said.

Even with the money on way, Young says current market demands could present challenges. “It’s taking longer to get designs, there’s sometimes back orders on the pipes and the water meters and things like that,” Young said.

Despite this, we’re told improving water infrastructure could flow into other benefits. “It helps with growth within the communities. It helps with commercials growth and residential growth because without these services many communities are just stagnant,” Baker said.

Worcester County officials say the next step in this process will be the county commissioners approving the grant and loan documents. We’re told once funds are released, they can begin the design process.

The USDA says the project will also tackle concerns of fire safety. The project has an expected completion date of April 2025.