Here at the Environmental Finance Center, we work with water systems across the country to help them improve their financial and managerial capacity. While there are many reasons why it is important for water systems to have sound management and … Read more

Here at the Environmental Finance Center, our key role is to increase the capacity of other organizations to address the financial aspects of environmental protection and service delivery. The majority of our Center’s work focuses on providing technical training and … Read more

Here at the Environmental Finance Center we work with a lot of data, but all the data in the world is useless if you can’t convey the story of the data to people who need to understand it. In line with … Read more

How to Maintain Infrastructure Without Financially Drowning the Consumer There’s a lot we don’t agree on; however, there’s one thing we can all say is true—everyone deserves access to clean water. Drinking water and wastewater utilities have taken on the responsibility … Read more

Stormwater and the pollution it spreads is becoming a major issue, especially in cities where it is the most difficult to control runoff. The greater amount of impermeable surface in cities prevents rainwater and snowmelt from penetrating the surface. Instead, … Read more

Think back to the last time you were on a public trail: what did you see along the path? Apart from trees and the occasional informational sign, you might have noticed water pipes, manmade channels, or sewer covers nearby. Do … Read more

The dynamic between public and private systems has always been interesting, especially in the case of water and wastewater systems. Public water systems are usually non-profit entities managed by local or state governments, for which rates are set by a … Read more

The Environmental Finance Center currently produces statewide water and wastewater rates dashboards for 12 states across the US. We collect a lot of data on water system finance and management to build these dashboards, and those data can tell interesting stories about … Read more

Every year, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes data on household expenditures, income, and demographics collected through the Consumer Expenditure Survey. This nationally-representative survey reveals, among other things, how much households are spending on electricity, water and … Read more

by Caitlin Seyfried, Trey Talley, Evan Kirk, and Noel Myers  One hot summer morning, a crew of staff members from the Environmental Finance Center set out on a field trip. We hopped in a School of Government van and eagerly started … Read more