A Caribbean getaway is often on the wish list of summer plans. The warm tropical weather, accessibility to beaches, and lush rainforests beckon. But these very factors often lead to a myriad of challenges when it comes to water resource … Read more

Small water systems serving 10,000 people or less comprise more than 94% of our nation’s public water systems. They are a large and diverse group, and are managed by a wide variety actors – from local and tribal governments, to … Read more

As the nation struggles to repair, maintain, and expand its infrastructure, public-private partnerships are gaining traction as a strategy for delivering traditionally “public” services. Public-private partnerships (or P3s) are touted on the idea that public projects can benefit from the … Read more

  * This blog was originally posted on the UNC EFC’s previous website on June 24th, 2015, and has been re-posted on our current website for our audience’s viewing. By Glenn Barnes In previous posts, we outlined how to use … Read more

The core of our work at the Environmental Finance Center at UNC is helping communities tackle the challenges of paying for environmental services. The environmental finance issues that we address are as complex as they are varied, and as an organization … Read more

It varies and it depends. It may cost as little as a few hundred dollars to connect to a rural water system in some areas of the state or as much $10,000 or more in other areas such as the coast or fast growing urban centers that are facing high infrastructure costs to add capacity. If $10,000 sounds excessive, consider that connection charges in certain communities in the country facing severe water supply and infrastructure challenges can run as much as $35,000 to $50,000 for a new connection. In North Carolina, the median combined connection cost for a single family water and sewer connection came out to be just under $2,400 (using data from 328 utilities who provide both services and were included in a recent connection charge survey).

In honor of Infrastructure Week (May 11-15, 2015), we dug into a report published by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in March. Public Spending on Transportation and Water Infrastructure, 1956 to 2014 reports on trends in federal, state, and local government spending on infrastructure, using data acquired from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This graph illustrates the federal funding trends for water and wastewater utilities between 1956 and 2014, in 2014 dollars. Funding levels have decreased dramatically — nearly fourfold between 1980 and 2014. The consequence for communities nationwide is even more significant when considering that a majority of the federal funds in the 1970s and 1980s were provided as grants, while the majority of the funds provided since the 1990s have primarily been loans.

In 2014-2015, the EFC and the North Carolina League of Municipalities conducted a survey of water and wastewater rates and fees charged by North Carolina utilities owned by local governments, not-for-profit associations, and for-profit entities. As part of this effort, … Read more

This week we bring you a post from our colleague Richard Whisnant from his new blog: Environmental Law in Context. This is the way the question often comes to me–who owns it?–as a way of asking either who controls water … Read more

  * This blog was originally posted on the UNC EFC’s previous website on April 23rd, 2015, and has been re-posted on our current website for our audience’s viewing. By Glenn Barnes In a previous post, we outlined how to … Read more