funding

Jul 26, 2016

Investing in America’s Water Infrastructure – Answering the “How to Pay?” Question

drinking water, finance, funding, infrastructure, Stormwater, Wastewater, water 2 Comments

By Jim Gebhardt, CFA

Clean and reliable water is critical for life and, as our Administrator recently said, “needs to be available to everyone—no matter what part of the country you live, no matter how much money you make, and no matter the color of your skin.” Yet, despite the notion of water as an inalienable right and that most Americans value well-run drinking water and wastewater delivery systems, communities across the country continue to struggle with setting up adequate and sustainable revenue structures required to support needed infrastructure investment and system management.

That’s why we launched our Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center last year to explore leading-edge solutions to funding and revenue challenges, and identify and support best practices.

As I blogged about earlier, EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund has provided more than $141 billion in low-interest loans to state and local water infrastructure projects since 1987. Today these state-run programs operate with almost $60 billion in program equity that will continue to be available to support sustainable lending programs.

Looking ahead, we see lots of opportunities for states to support market-based solutions that address stormwater mitigation challenges, source water protection, on-site wastewater management, and marketplaces for nutrient pollution credit trading. It’s also encouraging to see some states exploring how their triple-A credit rating can be used to guarantee debt and provide additional credit access to stimulate these kind of water quality investments.

But we aren’t stopping there.

We’re looking at emerging and promising finance mechanisms that address water quality and quantity challenges such as Pay for Success, Pay for Performance, green bonds, energy and water performance contracting, water quality trading, and conservation financing strategies.

We’re researching procurement and funding strategies associated with public-private and public-public partnerships in the water sector.

We’re working with the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina to develop public-private and public-public project (P3) profiles and an evaluation tool to help local officials determine if there is value in pursuing P3 opportunities in their community.

We’re busy developing a water finance information clearinghouse. The first portal will provide up to date information on stormwater management frameworks, funding and revenue solutions. We plan to launch the portal this fall.

No matter where you live, we are here to help. We also invite you to attend one of our upcoming engagement opportunities:

EPA Twitter Chat: On July 27 at 2 pm EST EPA experts will be answering your water infrastructure finance questions. Direct your questions to @EPAwater and use the hashtag #WaterFinance.

Environmental Financial Advisory Board meeting: On August 9 and 10 the Environmental Financial Advisory Board will meet in Denver, Colorado, to discuss ideas and advice to provide EPA on ways to lower the costs of and increase investments in environmental and public health protection.

Regional Finance Forums: EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center will continue hosting regional forums across the country to bring together communities with water infrastructure financing needs to network, hear local success stories from peers, and have an opportunity to meet key regional funding and technical assistance contacts. Check out our website for upcoming dates and locations.

About the author: Jim Gebhardt is the director for EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center. The Center identifies financing approaches for public health and environmental goals by providing financial expertise to help communities make better-informed decisions about drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.

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Jul 12, 2016

The Time to Invest in America’s Water Infrastructure is Now

drinking water, finance, funding, infrastructure, Stormwater, Wastewater, water 3 Comments

By Jim Gebhardt, CFA

Communities across the country are facing the immediate challenges of aging and inadequate drinking water and wastewater infrastructure. Most of our country’s underground water infrastructure was built 50 or more years ago, and in some older cities, water mains are a century old. The implications of deteriorating infrastructure can be felt nationwide— each year our country experiences about 240,000 water main breaks, $2.6 billion is lost as our water mains leak trillions of gallons of treated drinking water, and billions of gallons of raw sewage are discharged into local surface waters from aging sewer overflows.

Despite significant federal, state, and local expenditures, infrastructure investment has fallen short. Further, the cumulative investment gap is expected to widen substantially over the next 20 years with federal investments occupying a smaller space. EPA’s Clean Watershed Needs Survey and Drinking Water Needs Survey show that over $655 billion dollars in water infrastructure is needed over the next 20 years to keep pace with projected investment needs.

Over the years EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund have both been very successful at addressing important water quality and public health needs of communities across the country. With these funds we have supported state and local water infrastructure investment that provides essential services and reduces pollution in our waterways.

While our state revolving funds have been highly successful, there are still too many communities facing infrastructure challenges caused by inadequate revenue and investment.

That’s why in 2015 we launched EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center to identify and promote best management practices that can help local leaders to make informed decisions for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure that are consistent with local needs. The Center promotes the effective use of federal funds, identifies new approaches for procuring infrastructure services and capital investment for local and state governments, and employs strategies that can better serve small and lower income communities.

To explore the unique funding and financing challenges of these communities, EPA will be hosting a national convening on July 19 in Washington, DC, where state, local, and federal leaders will share best practices in coordinating funding and showcase innovative local financing solutions. I’m confident that the robust representation of states, utilities, NGOs, academics, and others will produce meaningful and productive conversations and solutions. Watch for a blog that details the conversations and next steps from the event.

The time to act is now.

About the author: Jim Gebhardt is the Director for EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center. The Center identifies financing approaches for public health and environmental goals by providing financial expertise to help communities make better-informed decisions about drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.

Jan 9, 2014

A Streetcar Named…Green Infrastructure?

Chesapeake Bay, Clean Water, funding, Green Infrastructure, Green Streets, History, In Your Backyard, innovation, James River, rain garden, Richmond, Stormwater, Urban Waters, Virginia, Water Quality, Watersheds 0 Comments

By Matt Colip

A 40-degree day wasn’t ideal for an open-air trolley ride. But the sights we witnessed in Virginia’s capital were worth the chill.

I joined EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin as he participated in a recent trolley tour of projects in Richmond that are helping to improve water quality in the James River and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay. The tour was provided by officials from the City of Richmond, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the non-profit Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.

The first stop was the city’s wastewater treatment plant to view massive upgrades designed to sharply reduce pollution discharges to the James. EPA funded more than half of the project through its Clean Water State Revolving Fund. From here, the trolley rolled off toward downtown Richmond.

Regional Administrator Garvin (center) tours green infrastructure sites in Richmond.

There, we came to a stop for a different form of transportation: the Bus Loop Green Street project. This project retrofitted the bus loop for the Capitol to utilize pervious pavement and rain garden planters with native species to filter and absorb the captured rain water. This was a great example of the green infrastructure opportunities offered by urban environments – a strategy EPA supports across the region to improve water quality.

After a few minutes at this site, we traveled to our third stop, Capitol Square – this time by foot. Walking past the Capitol to this next stop reminded us of how beautiful Virginia’s Capitol building truly is; its historic architecture makes you think that Thomas Jefferson could be walking out the front door. It may have been a cold day, but the sky was clear and the sun was beaming down and reflecting off the Capitol building’s sheet white walls – you almost needed sunglasses just to look at it!

It wasn’t long before a representative from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay explained that the brick walkway surrounding the Capitol that we were standing on was pervious, too. An underground cistern harvests rainwater from the walkway, which is then used to water plants and provide water for the Bell Tower fountain on Capitol Square. This project not only reduces the amount of stormwater runoff from what was once an impervious surface surrounding the Capitol building, but serves as a high-profile education tool to inform the public about the benefits of controlling stormwater with surfaces that let the rain soak in.

The final stop was a single-lane carriage street on 12^th Street near the Capitol that had also been retrofitted with porous material, another example of history interfacing with cutting-edge environmental solutions in Richmond.

Both Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin and I were very impressed with these projects, which provide a tangible representation of what Richmond and other urbanized areas can do to improve the long-term health of their local waters and the larger water systems they are a part of.

About the Author: Matt Colip works in the region’s Office of State and Congressional Relations as the as the State and Congressional Liaison for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Originally from Texas, Matt graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., with an interdisciplinary BA in Public Health and has a MS from Saint Joseph’s University that focused on environmental protection policy and management. In addition to SCUBA diving, Matt is an avid bicyclist and enjoys riding with friends and colleagues.

Jan 2, 2014

A Quarter Century of Clean Water Projects

Clean Water, Ecological Services, Economy, funding, Local Community, Water Financing 1 Comment

By Tom Damm

With EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, there are projects you can see and those you can’t.

But whether it’s adding the latest pollution-reduction technology to a wastewater treatment plant or building underground sewer lines to eliminate leaky septic systems, the projects all have something in common – they improve water quality and give a nice boost to the local economy.

The program – which is marking its 25^th anniversary – is impressive in sheer numbers alone.

Since its inception, nearly $8.5 billion has been invested in more than 6,000 clean water infrastructure projects in EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region; more than $100 billion nationwide.

But it’s the difference the program is making in communities that’s been the real measure of success.

From every locale, large and small, you can witness the results, from improvements on farms that reduce runoff to nearby streams, to upgrades of treatment plants resulting in significant progress by the wastewater sector in reducing pollution to local waters and the Chesapeake Bay. Check out this map and description of projects in Maryland, for example.

We like doing groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting events to celebrate the water and wastewater projects because it allows people to appreciate the benefits of this unique federal-state partnership.

The program works like this: EPA provides grants to the states, and the states in turn, provide affordable financing to communities, non profits and others for needed projects that improve and protect the quality of the local water. The program is funded with annual federal grants, state contributions, loan repayments and interest.

How the Clean Water SRF Program Works. Click for more information.

Our state partners have the highest praise for the program, perhaps best expressed by Virginia State Revolving Fund Program Manager Walter Gills. He says the initiative “combines the power of the federal seed funding with the innovation, efficiency, and customization of the various state government delivery systems.”

Keep an eye out for a project near you. And listen to our podcast to hear more about some of the visible impacts in communities in the Mid Atlantic Region from the past 25 years of the Clean Water State Revolving fund. For more information on the program, visit water.epa.gov/grants_funding.

About the Author: Tom Damm has been with EPA since 2002 and now serves as communications coordinator for the region’s Water Protection Division.

Nov 29, 2011

Writing Grants

funding, grants, high school 4 Comments

student Grants. The word sounds very outdated, or at least like a project forbidden to anyone outside of the workforce. However, youth can readily access this often overlooked form of revenue, as a means of funding their ideas for positive change. Grants allow one to avoid countless hours spent making cupcakes, in order to develop a valuable skill. Bake sales for the environment may raise money, but at the same time they contribute to childhood obesity. One problem is solved, while another is created. In turning to grants, those hours can be spent learning an ability that is useful forever, one that allows access to large reserves of money waiting for those dedicated enough to pursue them. There are many small grants available for projects, especially for youth, so it is important to gather information for a good idea. The hardest part about grant writing is finding the time to sit down and work, that is why there is so little access to this rich resource. The rewards of several hours are great: to the order of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, much more than could be gleaned from several hundred cupcakes. So the next time you have a great idea, or just need a little extra funding for your organization, think grants!

Kira is a Junior, active in school clubs. She is active in Art Club, an IB student, Teacher’s Assistant, a tutor for math, and plans on studying in Japan for six weeks next summer.