The Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority last week approved $355 million of funding for wastewater, drinking water, and green infrastructure projects, with a portion of the capital improvements financed through bond proceeds.
Roughly $248 million of low-interest loans and another $107 million of grant proceeds will support the approved projects. The $355 million commitment is on top of $530 million of clean water improvements PennVest approved in late April.
In November, voters approved $400 million of general obligation borrowing for clean water infrastructure. The state has yet to announce when it will issue the GO bonds.
In addition to bonding, loan repayments from borrowers and funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help support the combined $885 million of capital improvements, according to PennVest executive director Paul Marchetti.
Municipalities and sewer and water authorities throughout the state will receive the funds.
The largest project approved at last week’s meeting is a $30.6 million wastewater treatment expansion development in Lackawanna County that will eliminate or reduce nitrogen and phosphorous discharges into nearby streams.
Marchetti said PennVest is working on an upcoming revenue bond transaction that could price within the next six to nine months.
The authority has not relied on revenue bonds to finance clean water projects in quite some time. PennVest last sold new-money revenue bonds in 1994, according to Thomson Reuters.
“We just haven’t needed it,” Marchetti said. “We’ve been living pretty much on loan repayments.”
