HOW PROJECTS GET FUNDED AND FROM WHERE DOES THE

MONEY COME?Shirley Birosik, Senior Environmental Scientist

California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region

October 26, 2017

WHAT I’LL BE COVERING

• Focusing on external sources of money, like IRWM, for water projects

• How projects used to be funded

• What’s changed in how projects are funded?

• Why is it so hard to get funding?

• Grants vs loans; which is better?

• How to find out when pots of money are available

HOW PROJECTS USED TO BE FUNDED

• Loans from State Water Resources Control Board (for wastewater infrastructure) and loans from California Department of Public Health (for drinking water infrastructure) using bonds or USEPA funds

• Funding passed through the State Board from USEPA for water quality planning (CWA 205(j)) and nonpoint source implementation (CWA 319(h)) grants

• Grants from the State were relatively rare except from Cleanup and Abatement Account

• Local funding from taxes, fees, or voter-approved measures

• Starting in 1994, loans from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank), originally funded by the State’s General Fund.

WHAT’S CHANGED IN HOW PROJECTS ARE FUNDED?

• In 2000, voters approved Proposition 13 which authorized the State to sell $1.97 billion in general obligation bonds to support safe drinking water, water quality, flood protection, and water reliability projects

• Followed by Propositions, 40, 50, 84, and 1

• Legislation assigned pots of money to agencies or programs

• Grants for large amounts of money began to be issued

• Loans from the State Board are still available

• IBank has authority to issue tax-exempt and taxable revenue bonds and provide loans to state and local governments for public infrastructure

• State Board’s Cleanup and Abatement Account still funds projects

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO GET FUNDING?

• It’s not hard to get loans, depending on the applicant meeting eligibility criteria

• For grants, it all depends on the bond language

• A bond sets aside money to be distributed for specific types of projects (or programs) by specific agencies

• Existing “programs” such as the Clean Beaches Initiative or IRWM will get X dollars for grants

• Or an agency will get a pot of money for a specific purpose and need to develop a program from scratch

• Grant guidelines are issued that must fulfill the intent of the bond language

GRANTS VS LOANS; WHICH IS BETTER?

• As usual, it depends

• Grants: highly competitive, matching funds generally required, funding limits vary, limited application periods, grant management costs can be high

• Loans: not tied to bond sales, maximum amount can be very large, repayment required, eligibility criteria must be met, generally applications accepted continuously

HOW TO FIND OUT WHEN POTS OF MONEY ARE AVAILABLE (GRANTS) OR HOW TO GET LOANS

• Check out the Regional Board’s Grants and Loans webpage: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/losangeles/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/index.html which lists the multiple sources of funding available for both water quality improvement and habitat restoration

• Get on the Lyris list for any agency with funding authority that covers your area of interest

• Read up about loans from IBank at http://www.ibank.ca.gov/ibank/programs/isrf

• Sign up on USEPA’s Water Finance Clearinghouse to track funding for all things water at https://www.epa.gov/waterfinancecenter/water-finance-clearinghouse

• Attend a California Financing Coordinating Committee (CFCC) funding fair – find out more at http://www.cfcc.ca.gov/

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO?

Contact Shirley Birosik

Shirley.Birosik@waterboards.ca.gov

213-576-6679