Join experts from the Environmental Finance Center Network for a no-cost webinar series on the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF). This monthly series is intended to help you better understand the CWSRF funding process. Sessions will be held on the third Thursday every month (excluding December 2023 which will be held on Tuesday, December 19). April 20, 2023 | Session 4: Taking on capital improvement projects can be expensive and often necessitates financing, such as loans. Since loans need to be paid back over time and may require rate increases to generate sufficient revenue for debt repayment, it is beneficial to decrease the interest and principal as much as possible. Subsidized low-interest rate loans, like the state Drinking Water or Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRF), can save money over time by offering lower interest rates compared to market rates and, for qualifying communities, partial principal forgiveness. We recommend low interest loans because they decrease impacts on the customer base. In this webinar, we will describe low-interest loans, their merits, and demonstrate two tools to help evaluate different loan options and their financial impact. We introduce the Subsidized Loan Calculator, which allows you to compare different loan options and their […]

Description: The water meter is the cash register for public water systems! Water systems need an accurate measurement of the water being used by their residential, commercial, and industrial customers or they could potentially be losing money. The accuracy is vital for planning all aspects of water system operations from budgeting, reporting to the primacy agency and planning for the short- and long-term future. It is crucial that the meters be replaced prior to a predetermined date (no more than 15 years) to ensure that the meters are still reading accurately. When replacing meters, the public water system may want to consider replacing manual read water meters with radio read, cellular read or other technology, which brings us to funding. Will we be funding this from our existing budget, or will we be seeking grant/loan money for a meter replacement project? Participants will learn:  Different types, brands and styles of water meters and choosing the one best for your system Proper application of water meters (types and size) Installing a water meter Budgeting for water meter replacement vs. loans/grants for water meter replacement Manual read water meters vs. smart meters The recommended audience includes board members, management and operators.

Description: The water meter is the cash register for public water systems! Water systems need an accurate measurement of the water being used by their residential, commercial, and industrial customers or they could potentially be losing money. The accuracy is vital for planning all aspects of water system operations from budgeting, reporting to the primacy agency and planning for the short- and long-term future. It is crucial that the meters be replaced prior to a predetermined date (no more than 15 years) to ensure that the meters are still reading accurately. When replacing meters, the public water system may want to consider replacing manual read water meters with radio read, cellular read or other technology, which brings us to funding. Will we be funding this from our existing budget, or will we be seeking grant/loan money for a meter replacement project? Participants will learn:  Different types, brands and styles of water meters and choosing the one best for your system Proper application of water meters (types and size) Installing a water meter Budgeting for water meter replacement vs. loans/grants for water meter replacement Manual read water meters vs. smart meters The recommended audience includes board members, management and operators.