ASDWA Joins Discussion on Communities in Need

On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, ASDWA joined other drinking water and wastewater organizations, consultants, philanthropic organizations, and utilities to participate in an EPA Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center (WIRFC)-led discussion about how to find innovative ways to bring financing and funding resources to communities in need.  Although the group was not charged with making recommendations or developing consensus-based determinations, a vigorous discussion took place across four topic areas:

• State-Level Coordination of Available Funding
• Local-Level Funding and Financing Strategies
• Enabling Utility Access and Readiness for Funding and Financing
• The Role of Private Funding & Financing

Communities in need were defined as any water/wastewater system that may be disadvantaged, economically challenged, resource constrained, be an EJ community or be a community with high unemployment.   The term ‘funding’ referred to public funds provided through grants or loans, or grants provided through private entities.  Alternatively, ‘financing’ referred to loans or other contractual agreements or revenue generating mechanisms that localities, municipalities, or utilities structure.
WIRFC plans to use these discussions, as well as those that took place last July, to generate a report on what’s needed, available, and new opportunities to support communities in need.