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(Commercial/Industrial) Water and Power Rates Request, 2016-2020

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP) | July 1st, 2015

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A Toolkit for Stormwater Asset Management and Funding

California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State) | March 1st, 2019

Summary

Communities throughout the United States are making investments in managing stormwater. As stormwater management becomes a higher national priority, municipalities are ma

Communities throughout the United States are making investments in managing stormwater. As stormwater management becomes a higher national priority, municipalities are managing and building systems to provide flood protection and comply with National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Finance Centers throughout the country are supporting this goal and providing expertise and tools to improve local stormwater management capacity. The EPA’s Region 9 Environmental Finance Center at Sacramento State (EFC) developed a free stormwater financing toolkit to assist communities in sustainable stormwater program management and funding. The toolkit guides users in estimating costs for maintaining current assets, ensuring permit compliance, and projecting costs for future infrastructure. It also allows users to record data, calculate cost of service, and evaluate stormwater utility rate structures, including an ability-to-pay analysis for residential property owners. The toolkit was assembled as part of the EFC’s municipal assistance activities and tested in real-life municipal stormwater planning. Like most analysis and modeling efforts, data collection and integration constitutes the majority of the work. In undertaking asset management, utility managers will have to develop or update inventories of their system assets. Unit and program cost data will need to be gathered from accounting records and external sources, while property and census data will need to be assembled to estimate key factors that support utility billing systems. The toolkit and this document were developed to guide the user in not just what to do, but also how to do it and where to get necessary data.

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Accelerating the Integration of Distributed Water Solutions: A Conceptual Financing Model from the Electricity Sector

Environmental Management (Springer) | August 19th, 2017

Summary

Modern challenges require new approaches to urban water management. One solution in the portfolio of potential strategies is the integration of distributed water infrastr

Modern challenges require new approaches to urban water management. One solution in the portfolio of potential strategies is the integration of distributed water infrastructure, practices, and technologies into existing systems. However, many practical barriers have prevented the widespread adoption of these systems in the US. The objective of this paper is to address these challenges by developing a conceptual model encompassing regulatory, financial, and governance components that can be used to incorporate new distributed water solutions into our current network. To construct the model, case studies of successfully implemented distributed electricity systems, specifically energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, were examined to determine how these solutions have become prominent in recent years and what lessons can be applied to the water sector in a similar pursuit. The proposed model includes four action-oriented elements: catalyzing change, establishing funding sources, using resource pathways, and creating innovative governance structures. As illustrated in the model, the water sector should use suite of coordinated policies to promote change, engage end users through fiscal incentives, and encourage research, development and dissemination of new technologies over time.

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Achieving State Goals for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) | January 15th, 2015

Summary

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is a biodiverse ecosystem that covers about 1,150 square miles and supports over 700 species of fish and wildlife. The Delta is a

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) is a biodiverse ecosystem that covers about 1,150 square miles and supports over 700 species of fish and wildlife. The Delta is an important source of water for the state and is used to convey water from Northern California to Southern California. The Delta faces several significant problems, including: (1) a decline in key native fish species, (2) reductions in the amount of Delta water available for use elsewhere, (3) water pollutants that cause harm to species and increase treatment costs, and (4) levees at significant risk of failure. The state has engaged in numerous efforts to address these problems and achieve its "coequal goals" for the Delta: water supply reliability and ecosystem restoration. There are many opportunities for the Legislature to improve the success of these efforts. We identified several issues for its consideration, including (1) demands for Delta water, (2) uncertain funding sources and slow implementation of some key activities, (3) limits on the effectiveness of governance in the Delta, and (4) challenges to restoring the Delta ecosystem. By addressing some of these issues, the Legislature can improve the likelihood that its goals and objectives for the Delta will be realized.

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Annual Report Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 State Fiscal Year 2017-2018

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | December 30th, 2018

Summary

The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), Division of Financial Assistance (DFA) presents the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) annua

The California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board), Division of Financial Assistance (DFA) presents the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) annual report for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2017-18. The State Water Board provided approximately $707 million in new CWSRF financing to 44 projects in SFY 2017-18, which represent a wide variety of projects eligible under the CWSRF. This report describes how the State Water Board met the objectives identified in the SFY 2017-18 CWSRF Intended Use Plan (IUP).

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Beyond Water Pricing: An Overview of Water Financing Options in California

Pacific Institute | November 21st, 2013

Summary

California’s social and economic well-being is directly tied to financing for reliable, sustainable water. A new study from the Pacific Institute explores stable and su

California’s social and economic well-being is directly tied to financing for reliable, sustainable water. A new study from the Pacific Institute explores stable and sustainable sources of funding for water projects as a key to long-term solutions, and finds California’s increased dependence on general obligation (GO) bonds in funding water systems is unreliable and costly to both the state and taxpayers. Current water rates often do not fully cover the cost of providing water services and rarely reflect the full costs of the water itself, such as the ecosystem impacts related to extracting water. California ranks at the top of the EPA’s survey of infrastructure needs in terms of the investments required to maintain aging water systems over the next two decades. Climate change, continued population growth, and restoring critical ecosystems will add further to these costs. “Various financing options are used to invest in existing water systems and services, develop new ones, and mitigate environmental impacts, but there are serious economic and financial challenges,” said Dr. Newsha Ajami, lead author of the report. “The water sector needs a more comprehensive and stable financing portfolio.” According to the California Department of Water Resources, nominal annual debt service for outstanding general obligation water bonds in California has increased four-fold since 2000. This shift to greater use of bond funding can be linked to the decreased ability to raise government revenues through taxes and fees as a result of voter-approved initiatives like Proposition 13 and 218. General obligation bonds, however, are not a steady and reliable source of funding for long-term planning and decision-making because they require voter approval if they survive the legislative process, which is sensitive to economic ups and downs.

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