Complying with environmental requirements under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act can be costly, especially for smaller water utilities, which often struggle to find capital to improve aging infrastructure. In this episode, your LGEAN hosts, Cynthia and Shehla, chat with four experts from EPA and the Environmental Finance Center at UNC at Chapel Hill on environmental financing. Listen to hear about eight key steps for creating an effective financing plan, all the funding and financing options available to you—including bonds, self-financing through rate revenues, grants including Community Development Block Grants, and loans like the State Revolving Fund—and where you can go for resources that best address your local government’s financing needs.
Guests:
Cassandra Rice, Attorney Advisor, Office of Enforcement Compliance and Assurance, U.S. EPA
Tara Johnson, Environmental Protection Specialist, Office of Wastewater Management, U.S. EPA
Erin Riggs, Executive Director, Environmental Finance Center - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Tom Roberts, Senior Business Analyst, Environmental Finance Center – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Additional Resources:
· EPA Financing for Environmental Compliance
· EPA Water Finance Clearinghouse
· EPA Water Finance Mailing List
· EPA Water Infrastructure and Resiliency Finance Center
· Environmental Finance Center at University of North Carolina
· EPA Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations
· Clean Water State Revolving Fund
· Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
· EPA Indian Environmental General Assistance Program (GAP)
· USDA Rural Development Programs
· AWWA’s 2020 State of the Water Industry Survey
A transcript of this episode is available at https://lgean.net/podcasts.php.