WaterNow WaterSMART Support General Factsheet
The basics of WaterNow's WaterSMART Grant Application Support & Help Desk all in one easy and sharable factsheet.
Community Water Academy Guide: Municipal Profile
Community Water Academy Guide: Municipal Profile
Creating a municipal profile of who provides the water, where it’s from and who makes decisions can help provide some baseline understanding of the water, wastewater and/or stormwater systems. Places to source information from include:
- The utility’s website if it has one
- Department of Health
- Regional Environmental Finance Center
- Annual Drinking Water Quality Report
- Informational interview with utility staff
Click below to download an example municipal profile to inform the planning of your Community Water Academy development.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Guidebook
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Guidebook
The Biden-Harris Administration released a Guidebook to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Governments, and other Partners. Grouped into 13 chapters by issues area, this Guidebook is a roadmap to the funding available under BIL to help communities across the country know what to apply for, who to contact for help, and how to get ready to rebuild. WaterSMART grants are included in the Guidebook.
Click the link below to download the Guidebook!
Cooperative Watershed Management Program Fact Sheet
FY24 Funding Opportunity is open and due September 4, 2024 . Click the fact sheet below to learn more about eligible applicants and projects, federal funding amounts, and how WaterNow can support your application process.
SFPUC Analysis: Bond Financing Distributed Infrastructure
SFPUC Analysis: Bond Financing of Distributed Infrastructure
In December 2020, the SFPUC conducted a legal and accounting analysis of its authority to debt finance distributed infrastructure. The utility concluded it has the necessary legal and accounting authorities to bond finance decentralized strategies.
Click the link below to read the analysis.
TiR Toolkit: Frontline Communities Module Overview
Restoring and Reimagining Investment in Public Water
Restoring and Reimagining Investment in Public Water
As the COVID-19 pandemic acutely highlighted, water is essential to life and health. Without affordable, clean, and safe water, the ability of people to wash their hands, bathe, wash and cook food, clean clothes, prepare infant formula, stay hydrated, and do other everyday activities that keep them healthy is severely compromised, if not impossible. However, threats of aging water infrastructure in desperate need of repair, combined with declining federal funding, have contributed to a water affordability crisis across the country, especially for low-income communities and communities of color. This policy brief examines the connections between the current state of water infrastructure, the unaffordability of water, and the harms caused by privatization, with a focus on how these issues impact vulnerable communities, especially those of color.
This brief includes case studies that examine privatization issues in Atlanta, Georgia, Baltimore, Maryland, Flint, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It also provides policy recommendations to help restore and reimagine water as a true public good—clean, safe, affordable, equitable, publicly controlled, and for all.
Click the link below to download the full issue brief.
Smart Management for Small Water Systems Project
Smart Management for Small Water Systems Project
The Smart Management for Small Water Systems Project seeks to address major issues facing the nation’s smallest drinking water systems (those serving 10,000 or fewer people). Lead by the Environmental Finance Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-managed by the Southwest Environmental Finance Center, the Smart Management for Small Water Systems project is a collaborative effort between the members of the Environmental Finance Center Network and its partners, the National Association of Development Organizations and the Government Finance Officers Association, and is made possible through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Small water systems can take advantage of training and resources through a variety of offerings including:
- In-Person Workshops
- One-on-one technical assistance
- Small Group sessions
- Funder forums
- Webinars
- eLearning Modules
- Water Rates Dashboards
- Blog Posts
Click the link below for more information and to access the project's resources.
Stormwater Fee Structure Design
Stormwater Fee Structure Design: Is One Fee Structure More ‘Equitable?’
By: Evan Kirk, UNC Environmental Finance Center
"Stormwater, or simply runoff, is precipitation that does not soak into the ground. Stormwater management involves controlling the quantity and quality of stormwater as it eventually enters waterways via ditches, culverts, and stormwater drains. Success stormwater management ensures public health and safety. Stormwater management programs may also be responsible for regulatory compliance, public education, and other requirements. It thus will come as no surprise that managing stormwater is expensive."
Continue reading this UNC Environmental Finance Center article outlining possible stormwater fee structures, and how these structures impact ratepayers.
City of Claremont v Golden State Water
City of Claremont v Golden State Water
On December 9, 2016, the City of Claremont, California, brought an eminent domain case against Golden State Water Company in an effort to buy back the local water system and bring it into public ownership.
Click the link below the download the complaint.
