Blog
Current Blog Posts
Outside Rates: Why Are They Higher?
Water and sewer utilities have a responsibility to develop a system to serve all customers within their jurisdictional boundaries, but outside customers live outside that political jurisdiction. There is a lot of discourse concerning…
Important Water Investments Within the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
The newly passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) is a significant investment in not only our nation’s infrastructure, but also our nation’s long-term sustainability. Now that the bill has been signed into law, it…
The Low Income Household Water Assistance Program (LIHWAP)
For many years, the federally-funded Low Income Household Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has assisted customers with energy and heating bills, but no equivalent existed for water/wastewater bills until 2020. In the wake of COVID-19 and many moratoria on water and wastewater…
Disaster and Resiliency: Takeaways from the Duke Water Network Symposium
How can we build communities that are resilient to environmental disasters and other related challenges, and how can a multidisciplinary approach guide us through this process? The Disaster and Resilience Water Symposium, hosted by…
Using the Integrated Planning Framework for Advancing Climate Resilience
Post by Omid Barr, Project Director and Evan Kirk, Acting Senior Project Director at the UNC EFC Sea level rise and heavier rain fall events driven by climate change are causing more frequent and severe flooding…
Making Meaning From Data
Recent EFC tools have a new look and feel. Historically, the Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina (EFC) built spreadsheet tools. EFC tools are designed to help utilities organize and analyze…
New Affordability Tool Helps Utilities Explore Water and Wastewater Rates
The Old EFC Affordability Tool Seven years ago, the Environmental Finance Center at the UNC School of Government (EFC) debuted its Excel-based water and wastewater rates assessment tool. The tool guided utilities to assess the…
Getting Green for Going Green: Using the CWSRF for Urban Stormwater Projects
The Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) program was created over 20 years ago through amendments to the Clean Water Act. The CWSRF provides low interest loans to local government units for water quality-related…