REDWOOD CITY, CALIF.—Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that 55 new projects in 20 states are invited to apply for approximately $5.1 billion in Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loans. EPA received 67 letters of interest from both public and private entities in response to the 2020 WIFIA Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). After a robust statutorily required review process, the WIFIA Selection Committee chose two Silicon Valley Clean Water (SVCW) projects as eligible for financing:
- Wastewater Treatment Plant Reliability Upgrades for $70 million; and,
- Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade (RESCU) Phase 2 for $38 million.
“We are honored that two of our projects were selected, it is a testament to the excellent work from our staff and contractor partners,” said SVCW Manager Teresa Herrera. “Upgrading our aging wastewater infrastructure to be current, energy and cost-efficient, and reliable has been a major focus for SVCW over the last 13 years. Once again, we thank the US Environmental Protection Agency for their support and investment by providing assistance to finance essential wastewater treatment projects.”
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Reliability Upgrades program will improve treatment facilities by upgrading the primary, secondary, tertiary, and solids handling processes and improve energy systems to ensure reliability. This project will ensure that we continue to provide reliable and cost-effective wastewater treatment for our 220,000 ratepayers. The Regional Environmental Sewer Conveyance Upgrade Program describes eleven projects that constitute full replacement and rehabilitation of SVCW’s conveyance system. RESCU includes the Gravity Pipeline, Front of Plant and Pump Station Improvements. In 2019, the EPA closed a $219M WIFIA loan for the RESCU project and this additional funding will help complete Phase 2 of the project.
For more details about SVCW, visit svcw.org.
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Background on WIFIA
Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan and guarantee program administered by EPA. WIFIA’s aim is to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands of jobs.
