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EPA Announces New WIFIA Funding for Water Infrastructure Projects

By | April 2019

This week, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced a new round of funding that provides up to $6 billion in credit assistance in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans in 2019.

“Through WIFIA, we are addressing several of President Trump’s top priorities simultaneously: modernizing our nation’s aging infrastructure, improving public health protections, and creating jobs,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “This new round of WIFIA funding provides up to $6 billion in credit assistance which, combined with other sources, could support $12 billion in water infrastructure projects and create more than 180,000 jobs. For this round, we are prioritizing construction-ready projects in three areas: water reuse and recycling, reducing exposure to lead and addressing emerging contaminants, and updating aging infrastructure.”

The WIFIA loans are available to public and private borrowers for a wide range of drinking water, wastewater, drought mitigation, and alternative water supply projects.

To date EPA has issued eight loans totaling over $2 billion in WIFIA credit assistance to help finance over $4 billion for water infrastructure projects and create over 6,000 jobs. EPA has invited an additional 42 projects in 17 states and D.C. to apply for a WIFIA loan. These 38 borrowers will receive WIFIA loans totaling approximately $5.5 billion to help finance nearly $11 billion in water infrastructure investments and create 172,000 jobs.