Water bonds

Water agencies in Texas, Oklahoma, and Denver are selling a combined nearly $2 billion of triple-A-rated bonds this week.

Environmental regulations under fire in California.

With Chairman Tom Carper retiring, the key committee will be under new leadership regardless of the election outcome.

The East County AWP Joint Powers Authority plans to construct a water reclamation project using the debt.

The Texas Water Development Board expects to sell up to $1.8 billion of tax-exempt and taxable bonds in September.

Three municipalities will share the money and two will also get revolving loan funds.

Every state in the Midwest has clean water and drinking water financing programs. Those financing mechanisms may face greater strain in the years ahead.

Pittsburgh recently celebrated removing 11,000 lead water service pipes. It has around 6,000 to go, and estimates that it will finish around 2026. 

Chicago's top suburban customer and Illinois' largest water wholesaler bought land for a treatment plant in Northbrook, saying it will strike out on its own.

With billions of federal funding available from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, one observer says it could be limiting the amount of municipal bonds issued by the sector.

As the nation's fourth largest city faces a growing structural budget deficit, it is also expecting to issue more than $3 billion of debt for its airport, water and sewer system, convention center, as well as to fund a settlement with firefighters and for cash-flow purposes.

New York City Municipal Water Authority returns to the municipal primary after a $1.4 billion deal earlier this year.

Water systems will have five years to comply, although the Biden administration estimates only between 6% and 10% of systems will need to treat.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her public-private sector plan to build a strategic water supply will remain a top priority after a bill for financing failed to advance in the legislature.

The authority is one of the few investment-grade U.S. issuers actively selling triple-tax-exempt paper.

The funds will go through State Drinking Water and Clean Water Revolving Funds, which states often use together with municipal bonds to finance projects.

The deal may represent a measuring stick for triple-A benchmark yields amid market volatility.

The Texas city's project joins other efforts in Southwest states to find new water sources as supplies dwindle due to persistent drought conditions.

A California Department of Water Resources spokeswoman said the department is considering an appeal of the Superior Court judge's decision.

The proposed pipeline, which dates back to 2006, would transport Colorado River water from the Lake Powell reservoir to the southwest corner of Utah.