The U.S. EPA announced a $128 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the City of Santa Cruz, California to upgrade the city’s water sourcing, conveyance, and treatment infrastructure.
“Western cities like Santa Cruz know how finite a resource water can be and must manage accordingly to deliver safe, reliable drinking water to residents, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to investing in water infrastructure through existing programs like WIFIA and the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox. “With this WIFIA funding, the City of Santa Cruz is modernizing their drinking water treatment facility to be resilient to both drought and extreme rain impacts that the city has faced over the last few years.”
Located in a drought-prone region, the City of Santa Cruz is wholly dependent on local water supplies. The WIFIA loan supports Santa Cruz’s efforts to convert existing groundwater wells into aquifer storage and recovery wells, as well as update its raw water conveyance pipeline. Ultimately, the city will be able maximize the use of all water sources in response to climate impacts. The project will also support treatment process upgrades to address current and emerging contaminants, as well as source water quality variability.
“The WIFIA loan from the EPA allows Santa Cruz to make critical investments in securing our community’s water future, while saving our ratepayers substantial costs,” said Rosemary Menard, Santa Cruz Water Director. “We’re grateful for the opportunity the WIFIA loan provides to respond to the increasing challenges to water supply reliability posed by climate change.”
By financing with the low interest rate of a WIFIA loan, the City of Santa Cruz will save approximately $18 million.
