The Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) is a financing program that provides below-market interest rate loans to community public water systems, nonprofit noncommunity public water systems, privately organized water suppliers and local governmental units to complete water infrastructure projects.
Eligible projects those that relate to the planning, design and construction of safe drinking water supply, treatment, and transmission infrastructure. Eligible uses of financing may also include:
- land acquisition
- water supplier restructuring (consolidation of existing water suppliers)
- refinancing of existing debt
- guaranteeing or purchasing insurance for local debt obligations.
The Infrastructure Bank provides approved borrowers with a discounted interest rate – currently 25% off an independently determined market rate. For a project to be eligible for financing, it must first be placed on the Rhode Island Department of Health’s (DOH) Project Priority List (PPL), which is produced at least once annually based on transparent scoring criteria, and also receive a Certificate of Approval from DOH. Interested borrowers should contact our staff to discuss the potential project. Projects are awarded financing based on the order in which they are ranked on the PPL, readiness to proceed, and subject to the availability of funds. Since the inception of the DWSRF, RIIB has provided $450 million in loans to Rhode Island public water systems.
