Bond Financing Distributed Water Systems: How to Make Better Use of Our Most Liquid Market for Financing Water Infrastructure

Authored by

Sharlene Leurig, Ceres
Jeremy Brown, The University of Texas School of Law

As extreme weather events exacerbate challenges already faced by communities across the US - flooding, drought, water quality issues - green and “distributed infrastructure” (DI) programs can be an important part of how water agencies address these challenges. Smaller scale, localized programs perform the same functions as traditional infrastructure, safeguarding water supply and quality, protecting ecosystems, and managing urban runoff. Additionally, they’re often less expensive and easier to implement than conventional alternatives.

This report, by our partners at Ceres, explores how to make better use of current market mechanisms for these water solutions in order for all water utilities - drinking, waste, and storm - to provide reliable, reasonably priced water services now and into the future.