AMWA members and other water sector stakeholders will have several opportunities to influence EPA’s development of guidelines for the new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) over the coming months, as the agency has announced the schedule for a series of public listening sessions on the new program to take place throughout the fall.
Over the next few months EPA will hold WIFIA listening sessions in Los Angeles (October 17), Atlanta (October 29), Dallas (October 30), and San Francisco (November 17). Specific addresses, times, and registration information is available from EPA online.
The fall schedule builds on earlier WIFIA listening sessions held in Chicago in July and New York City in September. EPA is also planning a listening session in Washington, DC, though a specific date for that event has not been announced.
Approved by Congress earlier this year, WIFIA is a five-year pilot program through which EPA will offer low-interest loans to help communities finance large-scale drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects. EPA’s listening sessions are intended to let the agency discuss implementation plans with stakeholders and collect input on topics such as how projects should be selected, reasonable timeframes for awarding loans, and how restrictions on the use of municipal bonds to supplement WIFIA loans would affect participation.
AMWA members with an interest in WIFIA are strongly encouraged to attend one of the listening sessions and offer their input as to how EPA should ensure the program fulfills the needs of metropolitan water systems.