May 18, 2018 - On May 15th, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released a report called Go Back to the Well about the Clean Water and Drink Water State Revolving Funds administered by all fifty states. The report outlines a shortfall of water infrastructure funding that is over $1 trillion and emphasizes the necessity for funding water infrastructure.
The report details ways in which states could be using their Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs, to mobilize new funding. For example:
- States are failing to use existing authority to issue SRF-backed loan guarantees for community water infrastructure projects. Such guarantees would allow communities to get private financing at more advantageous borrowing terms. Only one loan guarantee has ever been issued backed by an SRF program.
- States can also issue bonds to grow their SRFs financial capacity. 22 states have done no bonding and most states have done relatively little or have not made it a regular practice to support long-term sustainable growth of their SRF programs.
Read more in the blog by NRDC Director of the Water & Climate Team, Rob Moore.
