WIFIA Solutions for Regional and Multi-Jurisdictional Issues

I need to address a regional/multi-jurisdictional problem.

Some water challenges, like drought, have broad impacts that affect entire regions of the country. Tackling the problem at a regional level provides for more holistic and long-term solutions versus each individual community trying to solve the problem alone. However, it can be difficult to find funding for a regional entity, while also addressing the needs of the individual communities within the region.

How Can WIFIA Funding Help?

The WIFIA program can provide financing to help scale regional solutions through the ability to fund a wide range of borrowers and projects and work within a variety of legal structures. Furthermore, borrowers have the option to bundle projects over a longer timeframe.

• Wide Range of Eligibilities: The WIFIA program can provide funding to public and private borrowers, including public-private partnerships, joint powers authorities, and other unique entities. WIFIA funding may be used to pay for planning, design, construction, and some financing costs. Borrowers can also use WIFIA funding to address multiple types of projects at once (e.g., wastewater and stormwater). This wide range of eligibilities makes it easier for regional entities to receive WIFIA funding for several projects across the region at once, limiting the need for communities to individually seek funding for smaller-scale projects.
• Legal Structure Flexibility: The WIFIA program can also work within a variety of legal structures between the regional partners. This flexibility allows the WIFIA program to fit into the framework that works best for the partners, including lending to multiple agencies for the same project, lending to regional authorities, or lending to special purpose vehicles created for single project purposes, all of which save time and money for the communities.
• Expanded Project Costs Percentage: The WIFIA program can fund up to 49% of a borrower’s project costs (or up to a maximum of 80% for small communities of 25,000 or less people). Multi-jurisdictional entities comprised of small and large borrowers are eligible for loans of more than 49% of project costs (based on the small member(s) pro-rata share).
• Project Bundling Options: The WIFIA program has a few options for bundling projects, depending on the regional entity’s needs.
  • Borrowers can bundle several projects into a single loan (pdf) (337.21 KB). Bundling projects streamlines processes and saves borrowers time and money by only closing one loan, instead of separate loans for each individual project. This option can be extremely advantageous for communities looking to complete large, complex projects.
  • The WIFIA program also offers a master agreement (pdf) (418.07 KB), which is an umbrella contract between EPA and a borrower that provides an upfront commitment of loan proceeds and a common set of legal and financial terms under which a borrower can close multiple WIFIA loans over time. Master agreements are helpful for borrowers with several projects that are in different phases, have different schedules, or are in different stages of the environmental review process. By evaluating the credit and negotiating the legal framework upfront, the WIFIA program and the borrower can close each loan under a master agreement faster and for lower cost than multiple loans outside of a master agreement.

Hear What Our Borrowers Are Saying:

“Receiving these WIFIA loans is a game-changer for the residents of Polk County. The PRWC alliance formed between the county and its municipalities has strengthened our opportunity to seek federal and state funding that will have tremendous impact on future water supplies in Polk.” – George Lindsey III, Chairman of the Board of Directors (2023), Polk Regional Water Cooperative, Florida