What Can WIFIA Do For You?

By Dan Hartnett, Director of Legislative Affairs, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA)

The nuts and bolts of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) are revealed, as well as its benefits to municipalities.

When most Americans visualize the nation’s aging infrastructure, thoughts typically turn to the decaying bridges and potholed roads on which they travel every day. The nation’s water infrastructure, on the other hand, is largely forgotten, though hundreds of millions of people rely on it to deliver clean and safe drinking water to the tap. Unfortunately, this vast network of underground pipes and hidden-away treatment facilities is facing profound challenges of its own.

Take, for example, the 650 different water main breaks that inconvenience the residents of cities and towns across the country on an average day. Over the course of a year, these force communities to waste nearly two trillion gallons of treated water at a cost of $2.6 billion. Figures like these help put the scale of the problem into focus.