The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act Program (WIFIA) program provides low-cost credit financing for water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure projects.

	Supports nature-based solutions		Targeted support for small communities
	Encourages public-private partnerships

Application cycle: EPA accepts letters of interest on a rolling basis; there is no deadline for submissions. 

Summary: Communities can use the long-term, low-cost supplemental loans provided by the EPA’s WIFIA Program to finance a broad range of water infrastructure projects, including upgrading or replacing aging water infrastructure and managing stormwater to enhance resilience to flooding.

Eligible applicants: Local, state, and tribal government entities, partnerships and joint ventures, corporations and trusts, and state infrastructure financing authorities such as Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs.

• Filter — Public Private Partnerships: provides funding to public and private borrowers, including PPPs.

Eligible activities: Construction of measures to manage, reduce, treat, or capture stormwater, including those that provide flood resilience and risk reduction; brackish or seawater desalination, aquifer recharge, alternative water supply, and water recycling projects; drought prevention, reduction, or mitigation projects; and property acquisition.

Funding: 

• Filter — Small or Rural Communities: Small communities with a population of 25,000 or less: $5 million minimum (projects are allowed to be smaller). 
• All other communities: $20 million minimum.
• Credit assistance is awarded on a competitive basis.

Cost share:

• Up to 49% federal / 51% local.
• Filter — Federal Fund Braiding: Total amount of federal assistance (e.g., WIFIA and other federal sources) may not exceed 80% of total project cost.

Application process: 

• For information on applying, visit this page.