LIVERMORE FALLS – A $300,000 low-interest loan has been awarded to the Livermore Falls Water District for water-line projects on Park, Oak, Maple, Spruce and Birch streets.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Maine Republicans, made the announcement Wednesday of $4.1 million in rural development funds for Maine. The money is provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.

The loan to help pay for the project for the Livermore Falls district will be used to install new water mains from Shuy Corner at routes 17 and 133, also known as Park Street, to the water district’s pressure reducing valve pit near the fire station on Park Street, district clerk and Treasurer Cheryl Marceau said Wednesday.

New mains will also be installed at the three streets, she said.

The water-line replacements will increase the water pressure for hydrants, she said.

They are also expected to reduce scale and rust, prevent future corrosion issues, improve both water quality and quantity available and stabilize system pressure fluctuations, according to the senators’ statement.

Request for bids for the work will go out in early September, Marceau said.

It will be up to the selected contractor when the project is started and completed, she said.

“We’d like to see some of it done this year and have it finished up next year,” Marceau said.

This project is not expected to raise rates for water customers, she said.