The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan program run by the Environmental Protection Agency is drying up and raising concerns from municipal water agencies already dealing with threats to the nation's clean water supply.
"EPA has closed just three loans since the beginning of 2025, compared with 18 loans in 2024 and 24 loans in 2023. This is despite 80 projects currently pending in in the WIFIA pipeline, including several dozen that have formally applied for funding."
The statement comes from a letter sent to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and signed by Tom Dobbins, CEO of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, David LaFrance, CEO of the American Water Works Association and three other officials of water sector groups.
WIFIA loans are low cost, long-term funding instruments that are often combined with other sources of funding including municipal bond sales, used for the planning and construction of sewer, stormwater, and drinking water infrastructure.
According to the letter, the program "covers the credit subsidy, based on the risk of default, for loans to creditworthy entities. The average water utility has a strong credit rating and a low risk of default, every $1appropriated to WIFIA supports up to $100 in infrastructure investment."
The EPA is a target for shrinkage by the Trump Administration as Zeldin's latest budget proposal includes plans to cut 1,274 employees, a drop of 9%.
Water authorities are also being squeezed via the federal budget appropriations process which is currently stuck in neutral thanks to the government shutdown that's now on track to break the record for the longest ever.
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State Revolving Funds are used as leverage for issuing municipal bonds.
Water authorities are also fretting over who is going to pay for upgrades to filtration systems needed to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from drinking water. PFAS, which are also called "forever chemicals," have been linked to cancer and other diseases.
The water sector identifies itself as "passive receivers," of the chemicals and argues that polluters should pay for removing them, not consumers.
The science and cost factors for removing the chemicals is still being worked out.
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"We will need new statutory language from Congress to fully address our concerns with passive receiver liability," said EPA Administrator Zeldin.
"The Trump Administration is fully committed to ensuring all Americans have the cleanest air, land, and water."
The American Water Works Association endorses a bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash,. and Celeste Maloy, R-Utah that would provide, "statutory liability protection for water systems that responsibly manage and dispose of PFAS chemicals."
The bill is currently stuck in a closed Congress along with everything else, as a House-passed bill to temporarily fund the government through Nov. 21 has repeatedly failed to win Senate approval.
