By John Ryan The WIFIA loan program offers an interest rate derived from current U.S. Treasury (UST) yields at loan closing. Other large-scale federal infrastructure loan programs like TIFIA and CIFIA do the same. The underlying idea is that the loan should cover the government’sRead More

| By Dr. Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi For years, thousands of small drinking water systems in the United States have been facing big financial challenges that undermine their ability to provide their customers with safe and affordable drinking water. As a result of these challenges, manyRead More

According to a release from credit rating firm Fitch Ratings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) requirement that all public water systems incorporate cyber risk and resiliency in their periodic reviews will add an increased regulatory and financial burden that could be even greater forRead More

In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $41 million in new technical assistance funding under America’s Water Infrastructure Act to help communities address urgent wastewater challenges. The new funding, awarded to nine technical assistance providers across the country, will primarily help rural, small,Read More

By John Ryan U.S. public infrastructure renewal was never going to be easy, but several current trends suggest that it will soon be even more challenging. Federal infrastructure loan programs are a proven policy tool, and their capabilities should be expanded in specific and practicalRead More

Over the past 25 years, Nordic water experts have taken a proactive approach to digital asset management and data-driven decision making that U.S. utilities can learn from to optimize CAPEX spending, reduce OPEX, and ensure efficient and resilient service. By Ulrich Borup Hansen & AndreasRead More

In April, associations representing the U.S. water utility sector submitted comments to EPA in response to its draft of the proposed Financial Capability Assessment Guidance, in which several groups said the agency’s proposal “falls well short” of meeting the purpose of the revision of theRead More

By Joe Crea The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or Infrastructure Bill) promises to inject $1.5 trillion across the country to “rebuild America’s roads, bridges and rails, expand access to clean drinking water, ensure every American has access toRead More

By Kyle Stevens Climate change is a pressing issue for local governments. The unpredictable nature of storm events and sea level rise has put a strain on already aging stormwater infrastructure, requiring huge investments to address the problem. Paying for these investments should not relyRead More

The U.S. EPA’s Water Infrastructure Financing and Innovative Act (WIFIA) loan program delivers a lot of financial value to qualified water infrastructure projects. Could some of that value be used beyond the project itself for innovative initiatives that address local water-related issues — water equityRead More