Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2013 - (Page 28) RURAL AMERICA at oes u a Uncle Sam has more than a dozen answers. LENOIR IS A small town in western North Carolina. It has 18,000 people, a Wal-Mart, a Waffle House and an annual parade famous for people carrying pans of blackberry cobbler. Is it a rural place? The U.S. government has an answer: Yes. No. Yes. Yes. No. No. No. Yes. No. No. No. No. No. The problem is that the U.S. government has at least 15 official definitions of the word “rural,” two of which apply only to Puerto Rico and parts of Hawaii. All of these definitions matter; they’re used by various agencies to parcel out $37 billion-plus in federal money for “rural development.” And each one is different. In one program, for instance, “rural” is defined as any place with fewer than 50,000 residents. So Lenoir is rural, and eligible for money. But in another, only towns smaller than 2,500 residents are “rural.” So Lenoir isn’t, and isn’t. And so on. There are 11 definitions of “rural” in use within the U.S. Department of Agriculture alone. “Sometimes we’re in. Sometimes we’re out,” said Lane Bailey, the city manager in 28 • Third Quarter 2013 Lenoir. “We always have to check what our definition is for different grants. ‘What are we this day?’” These varying definitions have become a baroque example of redundancy and duplication in Washington. They mean extra costs for taxpayers — and extra hassle for small-town officials — as separate offices ask them the same question in up to 15 different ways. “If you were starting from a blank slate, providing one definition would be optimal,” said Doug O’Brien, the USDA official in charge of rural development programs. But optimal is not happening. The Senate is expected to pass a bill that would pare down the list of definitions. Not down to one, however. Down to nine. Every year, there are billions available to fund projects in rural communities. Money for housing. Community centers. Sewer plants. Broadband connections. But what, exactly, is a rural area? Is there a single defi nition that could take in a Kansas wheat farm, a West Virginia coal town, a Vermont dairy and a Hawaii cattle ranch? “It’s like, if I said to you, ‘Give me a definition of love,’” said Gary Hart, the director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. “You wouldn’t give me one definition. You’d give me 20.” The list has grown in the way government duplication often does: one good intention at a time. Frequently, a new set of legislators or bureaucrats has set up a program to help rural communities, and has come up with its own definition of what “rural” ought to mean. But nobody bothers to erase the other definitions already on the books. Then, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Today, the government’s official definitions of “rural” include one written in 1936: an area with fewer than 10,000 people. That one is still used to parcel out rural telecommunications grants. Another defi nition was written in 1949: any place with fewer than 2,500 people. It is used for housingaid programs. These exist alongside other, different definitions: One sets the population limit Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Water - Quarter 3, 2013 FROM THE PRESIDENT KILOWATT REMINDERS POWERING PROGRESS PROJECTS THAT START IN RURAL AMERICA TOUCH THE LIVES OF ALL AMERICANS WHAT DOES RURAL MEAN? 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