The US EPA has submitted a draft Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for Applications for Credit Assistance under theWater Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program.
The US Government has provided $60 million in budget authority for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA) program to cover the subsidy required to provide a much larger amount of credit assistance. The EPA estimates that this budget authority may provide approximately $6 billion in credit assistance and may finance approximately $12 billion in water infrastructure investment.
The WIFIA program’s mission is to “accelerate investment in the nation’s water and wastewater infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost, supplemental credit assistance under customized terms to creditworthy drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects of national and regional significance”.
Eligible projects include seawater and brackish water desalination, as well as water recycling and aquifer recharge projects. Some 15% of the funds have been set aside for smaller projects serving communiites of up to 25,000 people.
Further details on the scheme, eligibility and application forms can be found on thw WIFIA website at: https://www.epa.gov/wifia/how-apply-wifia-assistance-0#notice