Summary of financial assistance
Clean Water Fund Program and Safe Drinking Water Loan Program
Wisconsin provided over $7.3 billion in financial assistance to municipalities since State Fiscal Year (SFY) 1991 through two environmental financing programs:
- Clean Water Fund Program (CWFP), for wastewater and storm water, since 1991, including the Small Loans Program (SLP); and
- Safe Drinking Water Loan Program (SDWLP), for drinking water, since 1998, including the Private Lead Service Line (LSL) Replacement Funding Program (SFYs 2017-2018 and calendar years 2021-2022).
- Total financial assistance provided
- About Environmental Loans
- Intended use plan
- Informational paper
- Annual reports
- Contact information
Total financial assistance provided: $7,369,613,305
| Program | # of Projects | Loan | Principal Forgiveness | Small Loan | Total Assistance Provided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CWFP | 1,365 | $5,724,607,549 | $387,454,622 | $33,943,774 | $6,146,007,310 |
| SDWLP | 502 | $1,002,059,128 | $116,979,724 | n/a | $1,119,039,354 |
| LSL | 203 | n/a | $104,568,508 | n/a | $104,568,508 |
| TOTALS | 2,070 | $6,726,666,677 | $609,002,854 | $33,943,774 | $7,369,613,305 |
Does not include nearly $129 million of financial hardship grants that were awarded through 2017 and prior to statutory changes eliminating the hardship financial assistance program.
Projects map
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) State Revolving Fund (SRF) Public Portal includes an interactive map of Clean Water and Drinking Water SRF projects that began or were amended since 2021. The projects included in this map are obtained from the database used by state revolving fund programs, including Wisconsin's CWFP and SDWLP, to report data to the EPA and are updated annually. The portal allows anyone to access data and create downloadable reports.
About Environmental Loans
Wisconsin implements a state revolving loan fund that combines federal capitalization grants from the EPA Clean Water and Drinking Water SRFs with state funding to provide financial assistance to municipalities in the form of subsidized loans for drinking water, wastewater, and water quality-related storm water infrastructure projects. Some municipalities may also be eligible for additional subsidy in the form of principal forgiveness to reduce the size of their CWFP/SDWLP loan. The Environmental Improvement Fund (EIF) is administered jointly by the DNR Environmental Loans Section and the Department of Administration (DOA) Capital Finance Office.
The Environmental Loan programs can finance construction as it takes place, refinance interim debt used to design and construct a project and reimburse municipal funds used for project costs. The CWFP is the successor to the EPA Construction Grant Program.
Intended Use Plan
The Intended Use Plan (IUP) identifies the use of federal capitalization grant monies and other monies in the fund, how the DNR program supports the goals of the federal Act, and describes how the DNR program will operate during the corresponding state fiscal year. Each draft IUP is available for public comment prior to finalization. The final IUP is included in the DNR's federal capitalization grant application to EPA.
Informational Paper
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau Informational Paper on the EIF describes the background of the separate financing programs for local governments, financial assistance criteria, components of the loan programs, special provisions and program administration.
- EIF Informational Paper [PDF exit DNR] January 2023
Annual Reports
DNR provides annual reports to EPA on the CWFP and SDWLP. The annual reports include lists of projects for which DNR and DOA entered into a financial assistance agreement (FAA), also known as a loan, during the applicable year, as well as historical information from previous years. In addition to project lists, the annual reports describe activities that occurred during the applicable year, program compliance with federal requirements, and the financial status of the funds. Direct annual report questions to Casey Sweeney.
- Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) Annual Report [PDF]
- Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) Annual Report [PDF]
Contact information
For information on this topic, contact:
Matt Marcum, Environmental Loans Section manager
Becky Scott, Environmental Loans Section manager
Casey Sweeney, Environmental Loans Section program and policy analyst