Climate Adaptation Funding for Water Sector Utilities
Loan and Grant Opportunities
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR)
- Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants Program (Community Change Grants): OEJECR’s Community Change Grants will offer $2 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds to finance community-driven projects that address climate challenges and reduce pollution while strengthening communities through thoughtful implementation. Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity here. This funding opportunity is currently listed on Grants.Gov under opportunity number EPA-R-OEJECR-OCS-23-04. The application period closes on November 21, 2024.
- Community Change Equitable Resilience Technical Assistance: This program will provide free design and project development assistance, community engagement, and partnership development workshops that support climate resilience and environmental justice activities in disaster-prone areas. This program will help eligible entities develop applications to be submitted for grants under the OEJECR Community Change Grant Notice of Funding Opportunity (see bullet above). For more information on the program, eligibility requirements, and possible project types, please access this link. EPA intends to offer this technical assistance to up to 50 recipients nationwide, and the announcement will remain open until 50 recipients have been identified. To request assistance, please complete the following form: Technical Assistance Request Form.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA)
- The U.S. EPA recently announced the availability of $7.5 billion in credit assistance through its Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program FY 2024 Notices of Funding Availability: $6.5 billion will be allocated under the WIFIA Notice of Funding Availability, while $1 billion will be allocated under the State Infrastructure Financing Water Authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) Notice of Funding Availability. The WIFIA program offers long-term loans to help communities implement critical water infrastructure projects, which protect public health, deliver environmental benefits, and support local economies, for a lower cost. Through WIFIA program financing, borrowers have the ability to combine multiple projects into a single loan and access flexibilities that include interest rate resets, debt sculpting, and fast disbursements. Any States, cities, Tribes, utilities, and other public and private entities seeking financing for their water infrastructure projects can submit a letter of interest at any time. Check out the WIFIA Available Funding Webpage for more information.
Funding Resilience
The implementation of adaptive measures to address climate impact at water sector utilities are necessary to ensure clean and safe water provisions throughout the nation.
Listed below are funding sources from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and others. These Federal Funding Sources, along with EPA’s Financial Tools, will guide you to a variety of sources that fund climate resilience infrastructure projects, pay for operation and maintenance costs, and sustain resiliency programs. Click below to expand each section.
EPA's Financial Tools
- The Resilient Strategies Guide (RSG) assists drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities in the climate adaptation planning process. Using the RSG, utilities can identify their planning priorities, vulnerable assets, potential adaptation strategies as well as available funding sources tailored to their location and needs. If you are a water utility that would like to receive technical assistance using the RSG, please contact [email protected].
- The Federal Funding and Technical Assistance for Climate Adaptation webpage from the Climate Change Adaptation Resource Center (ARC-X) provides EPA funding opportunities that encourage climate adaptation, provide information on general EPA and other federal funding, and information on technical assistance.
- Federal Funding for Water and Wastewater Utilities in National Disasters (Fed FUNDS) presents information tailored to water and wastewater utilities, to include tribal utilities, on federal disaster and mitigation funding programs from EPA, FEMA, USDA, SBA, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Search Fed FUNDS by type of utility (e.g., public, private non-profit) and check out the numerous success stories in your state.
- The Water Finance Clearing House helps communities find informational resources as well as actual funding sources and contact information for financing their water sector infrastructure needs. Use this link and navigate to “Search Funds” to narrow your potential funding sources.
- EPA’s Funding Integration Tool for Source Water (FITS) explains how drinking water utilities and other users can integrate federal funding to support activities that protect drinking water sources. Click the link for more information and to launch the FITS tool.
- EPA’s Financing Alternatives Comparison Tool (FACT) is a financial analysis tool that helps identify the most cost-effective method to fund a wastewater or drinking water management projects. FACT compares various financing options for utility projects by incorporating financing, regulatory, and other important costs. Click the link for more information and to download the tool.