Supporting Water, Wastewater and Stormwater Utilities with Historic Federal Funding

The State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan programs are important components of the financing strategies for many water, wastewater and stormwater utilities in the U.S. that face significant capital improvement programs.

The essential role of these funding programs has taken on added significance due to the infusion of $55 billion of new federal funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), including the creation of dedicated funding for emerging contaminants and to address the replacement of lead service lines.  

The result is that there’s heightened interest in how utilities can access these important funding programs. The economic and financial consulting team that I lead at Jacobs has been busily helping clients to develop and implement funding strategies and we’ve seen leading water industry stakeholders provide support and resources for water utilities. One great example is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) partnering to host a series of annual workshops that highlight case examples of successful funding strategies and the challenges and opportunities involved. 

This year’s WIFIA/SRF Workshop will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 13 – 14. We’re excited to have a number of Jacobs teammates moderating and presenting in workshop sessions and that several of our clients have been asked to share their case studies:

• I’ll moderate a session titled ‘Finding The Right Funding Mix’ that features two U.S. EPA speakers and will discuss how the SRF and WIFIA loan programs can be used as part of an overall funding strategy. Speakers from the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority in Pennsylvania and Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia will provide case examples of how they’ve creatively combined the federally-seeded loan programs as part of the overall funding strategy for large capital programs.
• Jacobs Northeast Practice Leader for Lead and Copper Rule Compliance Tugba Akgun will moderate a session on ‘New Developments In Lead Service Line Replacements’. The session will feature presentations by the U.S. EPA on the latest developments in several state accelerator programs for lead service line removal and a case study on the challenges and opportunities in lead service line funding presented by the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
• Jacobs Global Principal Technologist Kathryn Benson will co-present an IIJA funding success story in the session ‘BIL Priorities—Available Funding, Important Considerations, And Practical Examples’. Kathryn will present alongside the City of Wilmington, Delaware to discuss their process for identifying and securing funding from several of the SRF programs.

You can view our schedule in the full workshop program here. Connect with our team if you’re interested in learning more about how to access funds from the SRF and WIFIA loan programs and we hope that you’ll join us in Philadelphia!