EPA announces $319M WIFIA loan for improvements to a critical drinking water system in Oregon

EPA announces $319M WIFIA loan for improvements to a critical drinking water system in Oregon

December 16, 2024

SEATTLE (December 16, 2024) - On Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $319 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the City of Portland, serving Oregon's Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties. The loan supports construction of the new Bull Run Treatment Projects to meet federal and state safe drinking water standards, and it will help protect the public health of nearly 1 million residents.

This is the city's second WIFIA loan, bringing their total WIFIA loans to over $1 billion for the Bull Run Treatment Program. The WIFIA program's loan deferment capabilities and advantageous terms will help the city save an estimated $140 million over the life of the loan.

"Thriving communities expect and depend on reliable drinking water," said Wendi Wilkes, EPA Director of Infrastructure Implementation for EPA Water. "These two WIFIA loans mark the largest EPA contribution ever to a drinking water project, and an impressive step forward for the City of Portland as they ensure safe drinking water for their residents."

With this funding, Portland will construct a new filtration facility and related pipelines from their Bull Run supply to filter out a pathogen called Cryptosporidium, before it goes to customers. In addition to removing Cryptosporidium from the Bull Run water source, filtration will provide consistent, high-quality drinking water to meet today's water quality standards, help address future risks and regulations and improve system resilience.

The projects will help create 6,100 jobs, and over $400 million will go to firms certified by the Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID). This highlights the City of Portland's ongoing initiative to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion. The City of Portland's Water Bureau invests in a job apprenticeship program that recruits individuals from diverse backgrounds and life experiences to learn trade skills and earn rewarding jobs throughout the bureau.

The construction contracts for the new filtration facility and pipelines will include Community Benefits Agreements that set workforce equity goals for people of color and women in the trades. The contracts also maximize opportunities for Disadvantaged, Minority-Owned, Women-Owned, Emerging Small Businesses, and Service-Disabled Veterans Business Enterprise contractors and subcontractors.

"Securing another major WIFIA loan for the Bull Run Treatment Program is a huge step forward in our work to ensure clean, safe, and reliable water for Oregonians," Senator Jeff Merkley said. "Oregon's leaders deserve a tremendous share of the credit for this milestone, as it was their persistence in brainstorming solutions to water infrastructure challenges that led me to create the WIFIA program. With this new federal backing, not only will Portland-area folks be getting safer drinking water, but we will be creating thousands of construction jobs and saving working families money in the process. This is exactly the win-win-win WIFIA was created to achieve for our communities."

"Last summer a wildfire burned within two miles of our drinking water facilities in the Bull Run," said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. "Filtration is the versatile solution Portland needs to address the water quality risks posed by the seismic, wildfire- and weather-related issues we will face in the future."

"Our first and most important priority is to reliably deliver safe, clean water to the nearly 1 million people who depend on us," said Water Bureau Director Edward Campbell."This filtration facility is a long-term investment that will pay dividends in protecting our livability, our economy, and our health now and for generations to come. And with the support of the EPA and this low-interest financing, we're able to reduce the costs of this valuable project for our community members."

"The investments we're making in Bull Run Filtration and throughout Public Works will create jobs today and provide safe, reliable infrastructure for our community members, businesses, and industries to thrive," said Deputy City Administrator Priya Dhanapal. "Considering direct and secondary Bull Run Treatment project impacts, the total economic contribution to the tri-county study area is more than $1.59 billion in output over a 10-year period."

Since its creation, EPA's Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program has announced nearly $21 billion in financing to support $45 billion in water infrastructure projects that are strengthening drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure while creating over 150,000 jobs.

Learn more about the EPA's WIFIA Program and water infrastructure investments under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Background Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan program administered by the EPA. The WIFIA program aims to accelerate investment in the nation's water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands of jobs.

EPA's WIFIA loans are an important piece of the Biden-Harris Administration's initiative of Investing in America's Infrastructure. President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, signed in November of 2021, provides $50 billion to invest in water infrastructure. Today, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law-funded projects are breaking ground nationwide while tackling legacy pollution, upgrading drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, and making communities more resilient to the effects of climate change.

EPA is currently in its 8th selection round for WIFIA financing. In this round, EPA is offering $6.5 billion through WIFIA, and $1 billion through SWIFIA, which is a loan program exclusively for State infrastructure financing authority borrowers. EPA is currently accepting letters of interest for WIFIA and SWIFIA loans. Learn more about submitting a letter of interest for a WIFIA loan.

In addition to WIFIA loans, there are many federal funding resources available for communities and utilities to improve vital water and wastewater resources. President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a once-in-a-generation investment in our nation's infrastructure and competitiveness.

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