Congress’s Role in Funding Water Infrastructure By Senator Jeff Merkley
O
10 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
that were outdated, too small for growing populations, or sometimes even downright dangerous, or sticking ratepayers with a huge increase on their water bills. This is unacceptable, which is why I’ve used my role in the United States Senate to help communities in Oregon and across the nation in a few key ways. Early in my senate service, I won bipartisan support for a new program called the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA). I created this program, housed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, after hearing from communities across Oregon that affordable financing for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects wasn’t easily accessible. I introduced legislation creating the WIFIA program in 2012; it was signed into law in 2014 and officially launched in 2017. WIFIA credit assistance allows projects to lock in financing savings at today’s low rates for the duration of the entire project. And unlike commercial bond transactions,
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE OFFICE OF JEFF MERKLEY.
ur public infrastructure has been in disrepair for far too long. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, our nation’s roads, highways, bridges, railways, airports, and water systems will require $4.6 trillion in investments before 2025. However, current funding levels are falling short of our infrastructure needs, and there will be an estimated $2 trillion funding gap. Water infrastructure in particular has been a challenge for municipalities. I hold a town hall in each of Oregon’s 36 counties every year. Before each town hall, I meet with local elected officials to hear about the challenges and successes they are seeing in their communities. For years, in almost every meeting that I held, in every corner of Oregon, I heard about the challenges of finding funding to replace or upgrade aging water infrastructure. Local leaders told me there was no affordable financing available for these big projects. This left local governments in a bind: They were forced to choose between sticking with old water systems
