Clean Water Current

Last week, the EPA and the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange, in partnership with the University of North Carolina (UNC) Environmental Finance Center, released a new examination of nine projects that utilize public-private and public-public partnerships (P3) to develop water infrastructure projects.  This release comes as lawmakers continue discussions on a major infrastructure investment, and questions continue to arise as to how these projects will be funded.

The UNC report, The Financial Impact of Alternative Water Project Delivery Models, gives a high-level look at several alternative delivery methods from communities across the U.S. The projects featured in the study vary, from improvements to wastewater facilities to constructing seawater desalination plants. Overall, however, the study does not seek to advocate P3’s as universally beneficial, rather it takes an objective look at the cost and benefits of different implementation programs and how they can be customized to fit unique circumstances.