AMWA and a coalition of municipal and business organizations wrote to lawmakers last week encouraging the inclusion of the “Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act” (WIFIA) within broader water resources legislation Congress may finalize this year.
The letters stress that WIFIA would focus on large-scale water and wastewater projects that are rarely able to access funding through the existing State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs. Additionally, the letters note that WIFIA would offer communities low-interest loans – not grants – that would minimize the impact on the federal budget.
WIFIA supporters sent the letters to Capitol Hill as lawmakers prepared to convene a conference committee to negotiate final “Water Resources Development Act” (WRDA) legislation that will authorize a host of port construction, harbor maintenance, and other water resources activities (see related story). The WRDA bill approved by the U.S. Senate in May included a $250 million EPA-run WIFIA pilot program, but corresponding language was left out of the House version of WRDA approved in October.
In addition to encouraging the inclusion of WIFIA in the final WRDA bill, AMWA and others are working with congressional staff to improve several troublesome provisions in the Senate-approved WIFIA language. These include a prohibition on the use of tax-exempt municipal bonds to finance projects receiving WIFIA dollars, and “Buy American” restrictions on the use of foreign iron, steel, and manufactured goods on WIFIA-funded projects.