Increasing State Revolving Fund Capacity through Leveraging

Editor’s Note: This article is a follow-up to a piece in the April issue discussing how innovative features of the WIFIA program can help expand SRF loan capacity.

By Katy Hansen, Sridhar Vedachalam & John Ryan

In 2008, Iowa state lawmakers were determined to finance infrastructure upgrades in 600 small communities without sewer systems after record floods carried untreated wastewater into local rivers and lakes. But, according to the Associated Press, the projects proceeded very slowly. Each year, the state committed to upgrades in about a dozen communities. Local ratepayers funded most of the project costs by paying increased monthly fees, though the state provided some grants. Several lawmakers worried that small communities would not receive enough assistance if the state also funded much larger projects in Des Moines.