Water Finance

Residential water and wastewater bills have progressively increased by 5.7 percent annually over the past five years, outpacing average annual income growth (5 percent) and inflation (1.9 percent) and magnifying the financial challenges facing municipal water utilities. Analysis of the 50 largest metropolitan areas inRead More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation a Performance Partnership grant of $5.7 million to administer water quality programs. “The EPA is protecting the environment by engaging our state partners,” said Administrator Scott Pruitt. “This grant should helpRead More

Roundtable 2017 Editor’s Note — This issue marks the return of our popular Mayors Roundtable feature. Mayors are essential to a city’s water infrastructure agenda, involved in budgetary decisions and strategic planning, often in the face of financial challenges, economic uncertainty and regulatory constraints. TheyRead More

The Trump Administration’s FY18 budget plan for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) faced criticism from both sides of the aisle last week during an appropriations subcommittee hearing on the proposal. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said that while the administration favors “clean water and fixing our outdatedRead More

By David Clamage Historians have suggested that the concept of charging interest today for the use of money, goods or services to be repaid in the future goes back thousands of years, when a farmer could borrow a seed to grow wheat and repay thatRead More

The City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management (DWM) recently received a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence for Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. Awarded to government agencies and their management teams, the certificate recognized the achievements highlighted in DWM’s Comprehensive Annual FinancialRead More

The FY18 budget plan released by President Donald Trump in May would reduce EPA funding by 31 percent across the board by slashing programs and cutting staff, but the plan would maintain current funding levels for the agency’s water infrastructure financing programs. The proposal marks justRead More

The Trump Administration last week previewed its much-anticipated plan to invest $1 trillion in the nation’s infrastructure, releasing a six-page fact sheet on the principles guiding its infrastructure initiative alongside FY18 budget documents. But the outline reveals the White House plan includes less than $1 trillion in newRead More

A new report from Bluefield Research says that heightening concerns about municipal water infrastructure in the United States could position pipe and hardware companies to rack up an estimated $300 billion in forecasted capital expenditures over the next decade. The report, U.S. Municipal Pipe Markets: Trends, OpportunitiesRead More

Last week, as part of its observance of Infrastructure Week, the American Water Works Association announced the launch of its new Buried No Longer (BNL) tool. The BNL online tool offers water and wastewater utilities the opportunity to accurately forecast the cost of their waterRead More