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Peñitas is beginning a new era with a new waste water treatment plant.

"It's taken us 500 years to get the basic services out here but with the help of President Obama and his administration we were able to obtain $18 million for the system,” Peñitas city administrator Noe Cavazos said.

Cavazos says the city is making the necessary infrastructure improvements to lure in business.

"Not only is it helping us with the health issues but we can see the city is growing tremendously at a rate of 277 percent according to the U.S. Census Bureau," Cavazos said.

The city is currently under a septic system but over the coming months homes will be connected to the waste water treatment plant, all thanks to federal funding from the USDA.

Rural Development Under Secretary for the USDA Judith Canales visited the plant Tuesday.

“I wanted to see for myself what progress we have made but I also knew very well we had more to go," Canales said.

During her visit Canales announced the White House Rural Council Initiative President Obama launched Tuesday.

Canales says the initiative will provide more assistance to Colonias along the U.S./Mexico border in need of infrastructure improvements.

"We are here to see what the investment means but in the long run it’s really about the families,” Canales said.

Today the waste water treatment plant will serve 1500 families in the Peñitas area, but thousands more in the future.

"The work we do is investing in rural communities and Peñitas is doing exactly what we have been working with them to do,” Canales said.  “Improve the quality of life of the citizens here in this area so they can have the proper drinking water, as well as the drainage systems for development and be able to have the quality of life we all strive for in our communities."

This is the first waste water treatment plant to be built in Hidalgo County west of Mission.