Water Finance

By Meg Waters With perpetually lean budgets and tight staffing, water and wastewater utilities tend to stay on legacy billing systems well past their prime. A major system upgrade is a heavy lift, and if what a utility is doing is still working—more or less—thenRead More

The Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) has released “The Crisis Beneath Us: The Urgent Need to Invest in Michigan’s Water Infrastructure,” a report documenting the scale of Michigan’s water infrastructure funding crisis and calling on state leaders to establish a sustainable, statewide funding strategy. TheRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $272 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the city of Columbia, Tennessee, to help expand its drinking water capacity. Known as “Muletown,” the city of Columbia has a population of about 50,000. EPARead More

On Sept. 18, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $251 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the Las Virgenes-Triunfo Public Financing Authority in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, California, to make improvements to several drinking water treatment plants. EPARead More

The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA), the largest U.S. trade association representing the utility construction and excavation industry, recently issued the following statement from Chief Advocacy Officer Zack Perconti regarding a Sept. 3 hearing in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Environment Subcommittee on the “SafeRead More

A new analysis from global water market data firm Bluefield Research said U.S. federal water infrastructure funding is set to plummet roughly 63% between fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027, dropping from $23.4 billion to an estimated $8.6 billion. But Bluefield said there’s moreRead More

On Aug. 31, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $11.75 million in grant funding for 10 midsize and large drinking water systems to boost resiliency against cybersecurity threats and extreme weather events. This funding will support 10 projects and will come from the MidsizeRead More

In response to prolonged drought conditions across the western United States, the federal government on Aug. 21 announced mandatory water cuts to the Colorado River for the Lower Basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. The mandatory cuts require the Lower Basin states to implementRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the availability of $10.8 million in grant funding to support training for the water sector workforce. The agency said enhancing recruitment and training for workers in the water sector is more important than ever in light ofRead More

By Hagai Galili The wave of cyberattacks that became public in late July 2026 targeting municipal water systems across 12 states has exposed both a financial and operational risk for water utility leadership. Attackers compromised internet-facing digital controllers (the automated switches that manage physical equipment)Read More