Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation (WIFIA)

To accelerate investment in our nation's water and wastewater infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance under customized terms to creditworthy water and wastewater projects of national and regional significance. S

The WIFIA program accelerates investment in water and wastewater infrastructure of national and regional significance by offering creditworthy borrowers loans for up to 49 percent of eligible project costs. For small communities of 25,000 or less people who face significant water infrastructure challenges and economic or administrative hardship accessing funding and financing, the WIFIA program may provide loans for up to 80 percent of eligible project costs. The WIFIA program can fund planning, design, and construction activities for a wide variety of eligible water infrastructure projects, including wastewater conveyance and treatment projects; drinking water treatment and distribution projects; stormwater management; non-point source pollution control; projects that enhance energy efficiency in the operation of a public water system or a publicly owned treatment works; desalination, aquifer recharge, and water recycling projects; acquisition of property if it is integral to the project or will mitigate the environmental impact of a project; and a combination of eligible projects secured by a common security pledge or submitted under one application by an SRF program. Eligible borrowers include: local, state, tribal, government entities, partnerships and joint ventures, corporations and trusts, and clean water and drinking water state revolving fund (SRF) programs. In addition, a set-aside of the WIFIA program, called the State infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program, authorized by Congress in section 4201 of America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) of 2018, provides loans exclusively to state revolving fund programs.

The entity applying for WIFIA credit assistance must be one of the following: a corporation, a partnership, a joint venture, a trust, a state or local government entity, agency, or instrumentality, a tribal government or consortium of tribal governments, a State Revolving Fund (SRF) program as defined by the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

This is specifically for water infrastructure.

This is specifically for water infrastructure. Loans are a type of assistance in this listing.

Projects seeking WIFIA loans should have a construction period of approximately 5 years or less. The WIFIA loan may have a length of up to 35 years after construction completion, allowing payment amounts to be smaller throughout the life of the loan. Prospective borrower has up to one year to submit their application from the time they are selected.

Preapplication coordination is required. After the WIFIA program notifies the prospective borrower that they are invited to apply, the prospective borrower will begin working with a member of the WIFIA origination team, who is the primary point of contact until application submission. The origination team member schedules an introductory call to discuss the project, explain the WIFIA application process, and answer any questions. The prospective borrower will also provide the origination team member with a timeframe for when they plan to submit the application. This origination team member and the prospective borrower will work together pre-application submission to ensure a successful submission. After invitation to apply, prospective borrowers have one year to submit their WIFIA loan application. An environmental impact assessment is required. This program is excluded from coverage under E.O. 12372.

Issuing office will provide location of application procedure details as appropriate.

Selection criteria will be outlined in the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). The WIFIA application process is two phases: Phase 1: Project Selection: EPA announces the amount of funding it will have available and solicits letters of interest from prospective borrowers. In their letters of interest, prospective borrowers demonstrate their project's eligibility, creditworthiness, engineering feasibility, and impact on statutory and regulatory scoring criteria. Based on this information, EPA selects projects it intends to fund and invites the prospective borrowers to continue to the application process. Phase 2: Project Review, Negotiation, and Closing: Each invitee must apply for its WIFIA loan. The WIFIA program conducts a detailed financial and engineering review of the project. Based on that review, the WIFIA program proposes terms and conditions for the project and negotiates them with the applicant until they develop a mutually agreeable term sheet and loan agreement. Prior to closing, the WIFIA program must receive approval from the Administrator or his designee and the Office of Management and Budget. At closing, the prospective borrower executes the credit agreement, which is the binding legal document that allows the borrower to receive WIFIA funds.

Once projects are selected, prospective borrowers are invited to submit an application. At this point, the funds for the loan are set-aside to ensure the WIFIA program will have sufficient funds for the loan. The borrower does not receive disbursements until after loan closing. At that point, the funds are obligated.

Contact the headquarters location for application deadlines. EPA accepts letters of interest on an ongoing basis.

Prospective borrowers can submit a Letter of Interest (LOI) at any time. Projects will be notified of selection approximately 4-6 weeks after the LOI submission. Once prospective borrowers are notified that they have been selected, they have up to a year to submit an application. The WIFIA application process is two phases: Phase 1: Project Selection: EPA announces the amount of funding it will have available and solicits letters of interest from prospective borrowers. In their letters of interest, prospective borrowers demonstrate their project's eligibility, creditworthiness, engineering feasibility, and impact on statutory and regulatory scoring criteria. Based on this information, EPA selects projects it intends to fund and invites the prospective borrowers to continue to the application process. Phase 2: Project Review, Negotiation, and Closing: Each invitee must apply for its WIFIA loan. The WIFIA program conducts a detailed financial and engineering review of the project. Based on that review, the WIFIA program proposes terms and conditions for the project and negotiates them with the applicant until they develop a mutually agreeable term sheet and loan agreement. Prior to closing, the WIFIA program must receive approval from the Administrator or his designee and the Office of Management and Budget. At closing, the prospective borrower executes the credit agreement, which is the binding legal document that allows the borrower to receive WIFIA funds.

Borrowers can submit another LOI for additional funding.

After a prospective borrower receives a written notification that their project is not eligible under the WIFIA statute, the prospective borrower may respond with a written dispute to the program. The written dispute must be received within fifteen days of the WIFIA program's notification. The written dispute must include a detailed statement of the legal and/or factual basis for the dispute, the remedy that the prospective borrower is seeking, information on how to communicate with the prospective borrower, and any documentation relevant to the dispute.