EPA marked the one-year anniversary of its Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center last week by gathering stakeholders to discuss innovative approaches to water infrastructure financing.
The event featured remarks from EPA and White House staff, as well as interactive discussions with water utility officials and other water sector representatives. EPA described the Finance Center’s mission as identifying “financing approaches to help communities make better informed decisions for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure that are consistent with local needs.” The Center will work to fulfill its vision as a “leader in financial expertise that provides guidance on financing the planning, design, and construction of sustainable and resilient water sector infrastructure.”
Speaking at the event, EPA Acting Deputy Administrator Stan Meiburg provided additional details of the Center’s path forward, describing three main goals: finding ways to bring new infrastructure funding dollars to water projects, making money already in the system work as hard as it can, and providing additional assistance to small communities with enhanced needs.
EPA Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water Joel Beauvais noted that the Finance Center will help communities develop plans to affordably respond to emerging challenges such as climate resilience. He said the Center will also conduct research on effective public-private partnerships and serve as a clearinghouse where stakeholders can convene to discuss new and innovative financing approaches.
Jim Gebhardt, Director of the Finance Center, told participants that the Center “should be at the center of a national conversation” on water infrastructure financing and that EPA will use it to explore how the State Revolving Funds, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act pilot program and public-private partnerships can all offer communities effective financing tools.
EPA’s Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center is on the agenda at AMWA’s 2016 Water Policy Conference as part of a panel on federal infrastructure funding sources. The panel will also discuss the Department of the Interior’s planned Natural Resource Investment Center, and there will be an update on EPA’s work to stand up and develop guidelines for the WIFIA loan program. Online registration is now available for the 2016 Water Policy Conference, which will be held March 20-23 in Washington, D.C.