Conceptual Dam Safety Improvement Program Financed through Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program

ABSTRACT ONLY - The Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program is being developed to provide long-term, low-cost loans for high hazard dam owners to improve dam safety. The program was authorized by the Water Infrastructure and Finance Innovation Action (WIFIA) in 2014. The CWIFP program received its first appropriation in Fiscal Year 2021 through the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act in December of 2020. Rulemaking is in progress, but the initial appropriations as well as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will allow the USACE to offer in excess of $7 billion in loans focused on projects to maintain, upgrade and repair dams identified in the National Inventory of Dams owned by non-federal entities.
This paper will present how financing under CWIFP could be accomplished. Examples from financing of projects under the USEPA WIFIA program which was authorized under the same act as CWIFP will be used. A hypothetical financing example of a dam portfolio owner of 23 dams built in the 1950s and 1960s will be examined. The dams are assumed to be located within a rapidly urbanizing area and require spillway, outlet structure and embankment improvements to maintain dam safety. A hypothetical local bonding program to finance improvements will be compared to a similar program that incorporates CWIFP financing.
The objective of this presentation is to provide a better understanding to non-federal dam owners of the effort, cost, and schedule considerations between implementing a portfolio-wide risk reduction program using CWIFP financing compared to a local bonding program.