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Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act

Recommendation

Provide $70 million in funding for Fiscal Year 2022.

Background

The 2014 Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) provides tax-free municipal bonds and low-interest loans for up to 49% of the cost of construction for water, wastewater, stormwater and water reuse projects. The loan program was enacted as part of the 2014 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), which is routinely enacted legislation to address water resource issues and needs. WIFIA has provided $7.7 billion to facilitate $16.6 billion in loan capital, including at least 25 loans for recycled water projects since 2018.

The program is modeled after the successful Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) which provides loans, loan guarantees and standby lines of credit to pay for surface transportation projects such as highways, transit, railroad, intermodal freight and port access.

Funding History

Budget YearFunding in Millions
2021$65
2020$60
2019$68
2018$63
2017$30

Benefits

  • The loan program can help advance qualified, large scale projects that otherwise might be delayed or deferred because of size, complexity or uncertainty in future funding.  

To learn more about the WateReuse Association’s advocacy efforts, visit Advocacy in Action.

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