CENTRAL VALLEY – A bipartisan group of seven members of Congress, including three from California, are working on legislation to update a loan program that funds critical water and wastewater infrastructure projects.
Reps. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, and Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, joined together with five others on Nov. 20 to introduce the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Amendments of 2025, according to a press release. The act was first introduced in 2014 and established the WIFIA program, helping government entities apply for loans specifically for projects that would modernize water systems.
“Water is the lifeblood of our Valley, therefore we must continue to invest in our water infrastructure,” Costa said in a press release. “We know that where water flows, food grows, and nowhere is that more evident than in the agricultural heartland of the San Joaquin Valley.”
Costa and Fong are working with Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represents the northeast corner of California, Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids and Washington Reps. Kim Schrier and Dan Newhouse.
The WIFIA program is a federal credit program administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Local, state and tribal governments, as well as corporations and trusts and clean water and drinking water state revolving fund programs, are eligible to borrow from the program.
According to the EPA’s website, the WIFIA program will fund development and implementation activities for a variety of eligible projects. This includes projects that enhance energy efficiency at drinking water and wastewater facilities and ones that focus on drought prevention, reduction or mitigation.
Many steps in the development and implementation process are eligible to be funded by the loan program as well, according to the EPA. This includes planning, preliminary engineering, environmental review, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, acquisition of property and more.
Costa noted in his press release that throughout 10-year periods, the Valley sees either too much water accompanied by flood conditions or too little water accompanied by drought conditions.
“That is why I am proud to lead a bipartisan piece of legislation that includes my bill, the Restoring WIFIA Eligibility Act,” Costa said. “This effort will help strengthen the tools needed to modernize our water systems and protect every drop of water possible.”
Costa’s bill was introduced in April as House Resolution 3035. It would amend the 2014 act by adjusting how certain financial assistance is treated with respect to the budgeting of federal credit programs.
“This bill would clarify that federally owned infrastructure managed and operated by non-federal entities, such as the San Luis Delta-Mendota Water Authority, can utilize WIFIA funding to finance water infrastructure projects such as the C.W. ‘Bill’ Jones Pumping Plant,” the press release said.
Also included in the bipartisan WIFIA Amendments of 2025 was House Resolution 6229, introduced on Nov. 20 with Schrier as the primary sponsor. The bill would re-authorize the WIFIA program, extend funding for it and expand eligibility for loans, according to a press release.
The full legislative package hopes to authorize the use of collaborative project delivery methods for WIFIA projects, allow certain federal water infrastructure loans to have maturity dates of up to 55 years and continue the program through fiscal year 2028-29.
“Strengthening WIFIA will allow rural communities like mine to have better access to this program, accelerating the delivery of modern water infrastructure,” Fong said in a press release.
