The below draft was written by IB Environmental as part of the blog post series funded by the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) in association with the Georgia Funders’ Forum.

Maximizing Stormwater Funding: Innovative Strategies for Communities - Part 1

As a community concern, stormwater is uniquely positioned at the nexus of environmental and infrastructural challenges. Often competing for limited funds, communities must consider innovative strategies to improve infrastructure and minimize environmental impacts. But what options do communities have to fund stormwater projects? And what does innovation look like?

Stormwater refers to rainwater, snowmelt, or other forms of precipitation that runs off streets, lawns, and other sites. When not absorbed into the soil, runoff can travel across impervious surfaces, causing flooding, erosion, and mobilization of contaminants (EPA, 2024). Storms can produce an excess of runoff, which has implications for water quality, ecosystem function, and public health and safety. This need is reflected by the growing demand for funding in the stormwater arena. In their 2024 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) assigned Georgia a C- for stormwater, citing a “$620 million [gap] between stormwater infrastructure needs and funding in Metro Atlanta alone,” despite continued stormwater infrastructure improvements throughout the state in recent years (ASCE, 2024).

Stormwater Funding and Financing Options and Innovations

Investments in stormwater infrastructure are needed in a variety of places (ex. rural vs. urban) and at a variety of scales (ex. residential, community, regional, etc.). To address this diversity of needs, communities will need to seek funding from a variety of sources. Below, we discuss federal, state, regional, and local examples of funding and financing support.

Federal and State Funding and Financing Programs

One significant source of stormwater financing is the Federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF), which is a federal-state partnership. The funding is provided by EPA, but the state provides a 20% match. CWSRF combines state and federal funds to provide local wastewater facilities with loans to fund 11 different delineated project types, several of which link directly or indirectly to stormwater infrastructure. Between 1988 and 2022, CWSRFs nationally provided $163.2 billion via 46,224 assistance agreements.

In FY24, the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) received 76 Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) project applications, totaling over $673 million in funding requests—a 20% increase from FY23 and a 78% increase compared to the 5-year average (Figure 1). Despite the growth in total project submissions, stormwater projects have consistently represented a small portion of the total funding, comprising just 3% of cumulative project costs over the past five years (Table 1).

Figure 1. Trends in Annual Funding Need for Submitted CWSRF Projects in Georgia (2019–2023)

Innovating at the Federal Level

One way the federal government can provide innovative stormwater infrastructure funding sources is by acknowledging the intersectional impacts of stormwater runoff and making funding and financing options available via a variety of agencies. Integrating stormwater management guidance and funding in housing, transportation, and land use programs, allows for communities to tackle improvements in stormwater infrastructure in conjunction with other capital projects.  See Table 2 for an overview of a select few of programs and the funding agencies that offer stormwater infrastructure funding and financing support

*Table 2 provides a non-exhaustive list of federal funding with provisions for stormwater. There are several other related sources, such as the funding as part of the Farm Bill, which is more focused on stormwater related to agriculture; Department of Transportation funding related to roads; federal/state emergency management programs that emphasize resilience from future flooding, etc.

For information on Georgia specific funding, the Georgia Funders’ Forum is a relevant place to start. By fostering collaboration between funders throughout the state, we have centralized the funding opportunities into one accessible resource: Georgia Water, Wastewater, & Stormwater Funding Sources.

Part 2 of this topic will look at innovative funding strategies for stormwater at the local level.

This is part of a blog post series funded by the Georgia Environmental Finance (GEFA).

Disclaimer: The opinions of the writers should not be considered legal advice or endorsement by GEFA.

References

Environmental Protection Agency. (2024, January 2). EPA facility stormwater management. Water Management. https://www.epa.gov/greeningepa/epa-facility-stormwater-management

Environmental Protection Agency. (2022). CWSRF 2022 annual report. Clean Water State Revolving Fund. https://www.epa.gov/cwsrf

Environmental Protection Agency. (2022, April). Stormwater infrastructure funding and financing: EPA report to Congress.

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. (2024, May 31). 2024 Intended Use Plan: Base and supplemental Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. (2023, May 25). 2023 Intended Use Plan: Base and supplemental Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. (2022, November 30). 2022 Intended Use Plan: Supplemental Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. (2022, August 16). Intended Use Plan: Clean Water State Revolving Fund.

National Stormwater Alliance. (n.d.). Funding source options. Funding. https://ms4resource.nationalstormwateralliance.org/index.php/category/funding-source-options/