Funding and Financing Countywide Green Stormwater Infrastructure Investments

The City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG) implements the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program (SMCWPPP) established in 1990 to reduce the pollution carried by stormwater into local creeks, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean in partnership with each incorporated city and town in the county, and the County of San Mateo, which share a common National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System permit. As part of the SMCWPPP implementation, C/CAG is working to advance regional-scale and distributed, parcel-scale green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects in San Mateo County by developing a Regional Collaboration Program Framework to describe a countywide stormwater program focused on both potential regional projects and distributed green infrastructure implemented by private sector developers that can provide water quality and resiliency benefits. C/CAG is also working to identify potential funding and financing mechanisms to implement the strategies to be identified in the Regional Collaboration Program Framework.

As part of WaterNow’s Tap into Resilience (TiR) initiative, this report details WaterNow’s initial legal and accounting analyses of the potential funding and financing options available to C/CAG, its members, and possible regional partners to inform and advance San Mateo County’s increased investments in countywide regional-scale green infrastructure as well as parcel-scale green infrastructure. This report also explores a hypothetical spending plan for a large-scale green stormwater infrastructure program in San Mateo County that includes multiple regional-scale and robust investment in distributed, parcel-scale projects built over a 20 year timeline.