May 2019 Vol. 74 No. 5
Newsline
EPA Announces New WIFIA Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making funding available to provide an estimated $6 billion in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans in 2019.
“Through WIFIA, we are addressing several of President Trump’s top priorities, simultaneously: modernizing our nation’s aging infrastructure, improving public health protections and creating jobs,” said Andrew Wheeler, EPA Administrator.
WIFIA loans are available to public and private borrowers for a wide range of drinking water, wastewater, drought mitigation, and alternative water supply projects. This year’s Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) highlights the agency’s priority to finance projects that are ready for construction in three key areas: reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants in drinking water systems; updating aging infrastructure; and implementing water reuse and recycling.
The WIFIA program received $68 million in funding in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019, which was signed into law by President Trump on February 15, 2019. This is a $5 million increase in the program’s funding from 2018. Leveraging private capital and other funding sources, these projects could support $12 billion in water infrastructure investment and create more than 180,000 jobs.
To date, EPA has issued eight loans totaling more than $2 billion in WIFIA credit assistance to help finance over $4 billion for water infrastructure projects and create over 6,000 jobs. EPA has invited an additional 42 projects in 17 states and D.C. to apply for a WIFIA loan. These 38 borrowers will receive WIFIA loans totaling approximately $5.5 billion to help finance nearly $11 billion in water infrastructure investments and create 172,000 jobs.
EPA will evaluate proposed projects described in the LOIs using WIFIA’s statutory and regulatory criteria as described in the NOFA. Through this competitive process, EPA will select projects that it intends to fund and invite them to continue the application process.
For more information, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wifia.
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