The Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Program is a joint collaboration between the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, EPA, and USDA and provides financial assistance to grassroots partnerships for … Read more
The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) is designed to fast-track water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure funding by providing long-term, low-cost, supplemental credit assistance in the form of direct loans or loan guarantees.
Eligible Uses
- Wastewater projects, such as those eligible for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund
- Drinking water treatment and distribution projects, such as those eligible for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
- Enhanced energy efficiency projects at drinking water and wastewater facilities
- Desalination, aquifer recharge, and water recycling projects
- Property acquisition if it is integral to the project or will mitigate the environmental impact of a project
Eligible Recipients
Local, state, tribal, and federal government entities are all eligible recipients, including partnerships and joint ventures, corporations and trusts, and Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs.
Approx Annual Funding Amount
The program funding varies annually. To date, the WIFIA program has closed 133 loans totaling $20 billion in credit assistance to help finance $45 billion for water infrastructure projects.
Cost Share Requirements
There are no cost share requirements.
Application Cycle
Prospective borrowers submit a Letter of Interest to EPA, which is considered on a rolling selection basis.
Contact
Other Info
- This program is covered under the Justice40 Initiative.
- The maximum amount of WIFIA credit assistance to a project is 49% of eligible project costs, though small communities (a population of 25,000 or less) may request up to 80% of credit assistance of the eligible project costs.