(AGENPARL) – gio 21 settembre 2023 Issued: Sep 21, 2023 (2:29pm EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7.5 Billion in Available Financing for
Water Infrastructure Projects
WASHINGTON (September 21, 2023) — Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced $7.5 billion in available Water Infrastructure Finance
and Innovation Act (WIFIA) funding. This innovative low-interest loan program
helps communities invest in drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater
infrastructure while saving millions of dollars and creating good-paying local
jobs. To date, EPA’s WIFIA program has announced $19 billion to help finance
109 projects across the country. These projects are creating over 60,000 jobs.
Today’s announcement furthers the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment
to ensuring all people and all communities have access to clean and safe
water.
“When we invest in water, we support healthy people, economic opportunity,
environmental protection, and good-paying local jobs,” said EPA
Administrator Michael S. Regan. “This new funding from the WIFIA program –
coupled with President Biden’s historic $50 billion investment in water
through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law – bolsters EPA’s efforts to
ensure communities across the country have solid water infrastructure and
reliable access to safe and clean water.”
This announcement initiates EPA’s 7th round of WIFIA financing with $6.5
billion available through the WIFIA program and $1 billion available through
the State WIFIA (SWIFIA) program, which provides loans exclusively for State
infrastructure financing authority borrowers. EPA is currently accepting
letters of interest for both WIFIA and SWIFIA loans. Prospective borrowers can
also receive technical assistance to develop a funding request that meets the
WIFIA program’s requirements. This assistance will help small and
disadvantaged communities benefit from WIFIA funding.
For this new round of funding, EPA has identified priority areas such as;
increasing investment in economically stressed communities; making rapid
progress on lead service line replacement; addressing PFAS and emerging
contaminants; mitigating the impacts of drought and supporting water
innovation and resilience.
Using previously announced funding, EPA has awarded WIFIA loans to benefit
dozens of communities, including:
• Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority in Pennsylvania closed a $52 million
WIFIA loan to upgrade and replace aging water infrastructure to ensure that
residents and businesses can rely on safe drinking water.
• Polk Regional Water Cooperative in Florida received $305 million to
sustain the local drinking water supply and alleviate the strain on the Upper
Floridan Aquifer.
• City of Santa Cruz, California closed a $128 million WIFIA loan to upgrade
their drinking water system to be more resilient to drought and climate
change.
• City of Wichita, Kansas closed a $191 million WIFIA loan to upgrade two
critical wastewater facilities, advancing technologies for water reuse and
reducing the nutrient loads in the Arkansas River and Mississippi River
Basin.
• San Francisco Public Utilities Commission in California closed a $369
million WIFIA loan to enhance resiliency to seismic events and climate change
and reduce the risk of combined sewer overflows.
• New Jersey Infrastructure Bank closed a $500 million SWIFIA loan that will
help modernize wastewater and drinking water systems serving over 10 million
people throughout New Jersey.
• City of Boise, Idaho closed a $263 million WIFIA loan to improve
wastewater treatment processes to protect the Boise River’s water quality.
• City of Chattanooga, Tennessee closed a $186 million WIFIA loan to improve
its wastewater system’s energy efficiency and resilience to extreme
weather.
Learn more about the WIFIA program, our selected projects, and this funding
announcement
Background
Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014,
the WIFIA program is a federal loan program administered by EPA. The WIFIA
program’s aim is to accelerate investment in the nation’s water
infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost, supplemental credit
assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA
program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will
result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands
of jobs for local communities.
This new funding builds off last year’s success, when 42 borrowers were
selected to apply for WIFIA funding. Since implementing the project selection
process on a rolling basis last year, a wider variety of borrowers have been
selected for WIFIA financing, including 17 small and disadvantaged
communities. Two prospective borrowers received technical assistance last
funding round and are now positioned to submit WIFIA loan applications.
In addition to WIFIA loans, there are many federal funding resources available
for communities and utilities to improve vital water and wastewater resources.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation
investment in the nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness. The
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provides a historic $50 billion investment in
upgrading critical water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.
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