Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center

Helping communities make informed decisions around drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure to protect human health and the environment.

On this page:

• About the Program
• Types of Assistance
• How This Program Helps Build Resilience
• Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

About the Program

The Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center (WIRFC) is an information and assistance center, helping communities make informed decisions around drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure to protect human health and the environment. WIRFC works on a variety of infrastructure funding and financing issues covering all aspects of the water sector. This includes everything from public-private partnerships to stormwater infrastructure, affordability, and other financial expertise support, such as the Water Finance Clearinghouse.

Types of Assistance

WIRFC offers its partners and stakeholders a variety of assistance that can help build climate resilience.

Technical Assistance

• WIRFC provides technical expertise in helping communities determine the best options for funding as well as how to use those dollars.

Coordination Assistance

• WIRFC serves as a key connection for a variety of other programs because projects cover the entirety of the water sector.
• WIRFC has worked with local decision-makers to identify a full range of financial assistance, including federal funding programs for water infrastructure, community development programs, rate assistance programs, and more.
• WIRFC provides avenues for coordination with professional and nonprofit organizations that work in and with the water sector.

Advisory Assistance

• The EPA’s Environmental Financial Advisory Board (EFAB) provides infrastructure sector and financial sector expertise to the Agency on all aspects of environmental protection, including air, solid waste, and water.
• The Environmental Finance Centers, or EFCs, serve as a network of 29 centers throughout the country. The EFCs work with the public and private sector to support development of innovative solutions to financing challenges faced by the environmental sector. The EFCs also educate communities on the role of economic development in environmental protection and assist local decision-makers with how to analyze environmental challenges.

Outreach and Education Assistance

• The Water Finance Clearinghouse, an online searchable database, contains information on sources of funding and financing and resources supporting selection and use of funds. This includes current sources of funding and financing and are searchable by a variety of criteria.
• The Clearinghouse provides resources on funding and financing water infrastructure, such as reports, training, and webinars.
• The Clearinghouse also includes learning modules that serve as step-by-step water finance guides developed in partnership with programs throughout the EPA’s Office of Water and other stakeholders. These modules provide users with tutorials on a variety of funding and financing options to educate them and support their water infrastructure funding decision-making.

How This Program Helps Build Resilience

This program can help prepare, adapt, and build resilience to water-related disasters by providing technical assistance on funding and financing mechanisms, as well as information on additional financial resources across the federal government, state, and local levels. Types of projects supported by this program include reports on flood resilience financing and drought resilience financing.

WIRFC has performed several projects and provided programmatic support for climate resilience, including both pre- and post-natural-disaster activities. Below is a list of recent examples.

• WIRFC helps communities identify financing options for resilient and sustainable infrastructure projects. Key components of resilience include water efficiency, energy efficiency, green infrastructure, and water reuse.
• WIRFC worked closely with the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund programs to develop a report (pdf) to provide information and technical assistance state programs and potential borrowers on drought resilience efforts.
• EFAB convened a workgroup to develop an advisory report on stormwater infrastructure funding.
• EFAB convened a workgroup to develop an advisory report on opportunities and barriers at the local and federal level associated with pre-disaster resilience.
• In response to the COVID-19 disaster, WIRFC released a tool for utilities to assess the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the utility’s cashflow.
• WIRFC has developed a new online decision-support tool to help states, localities, and other interested parties more efficiently identify sources of federal funding and financing to support their water resilience project needs. This project is part of the National Water Reuse Action Plan under Action 6.1.

Connections to Other EPA, Federal, or Non-Governmental Efforts

WIRFC offers information on cross-agency, interagency, and non-governmental resources. WIRFC also:

• Works closely with the State Revolving Funds and Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) programs on a regular basis.
• Coordinates with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other water resources agencies.
• Provides information to communities interested in establishing public and private partnerships for innovative financing. Engages with many international partners to facilitate cross-border bidirectional education on innovations and best practices in the water sector.