Abby Ritz 
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) was designed to provide financial relief to communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a significant portion of the allocated funds across the country remain unspent. The underutilization of ARPA funds presents challenges as communities strive to meet legislative requirements and deadlines while effectively promoting equitable development and recovery. … Read more
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) created new Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) program allocations over the next five years for lead service line replacement and inventories. This is a great opportunity for water systems to access additional grant funding (loan forgiveness) to complete lead service line inventories (LSLI) required by the Lead and Copper … Read more
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide $550 billion in new infrastructure funding over the next five years, but it also brings new “Buy America” provisions that could significantly increase construction costs. These provisions require that any iron, steel, manufactured products, and construction materials used in Federally funded projects must be procured in the United … Read more
Deadlines are approaching throughout the Midwest for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). According to HUD, the primary goal of the CDBG program is “the development of viable communities, by providing decent housing and suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.” … Read more
President Joe Biden announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program will double its funding from $500 million to $1 billion for the 2022 application window. This provides a major opportunity for flood control and water-related infrastructure projects to access grant funding. The BRIC program provides 75% cost-share … Read more
The full economic effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown at this point. However, economists predict varying degrees of economic downturn. To compound the issue, oil producing regions are contending with the price of oil bottoming out at the same time. Although there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to the future … Read more