By Anna Patterson, Project Director, SOG EFC
Water and wastewater utilities often face tricky financial problems with no clear-cut solutions. Luckily, the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) is here to help!
The EFCN is a group of university and non-profit-based organizations that work with government agencies, public and private sector environmental groups, and water and wastewater utilities to provide innovative solutions to difficult how-to-pay questions. Some of the resources that the EFCN has made available on its recently updated website are highlighted below:
- Tools and Publications—The EFCN network is comprised of environmental professionals and data scientists who routinely publish articles and develop interactive dashboards and tools to help water and wastewater agencies evaluate their overall financial health.
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- Dashboards—The Environmental Finance Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill provides statewide dashboards of water and wastewater utilities so that individual utilities can compare their rates with those of similar-sized utilities. Dashboards also help utilities benchmark their rates against characteristics such as utility financing, system characteristics, demographic data, and location.
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- Affordability tool – The affordability tool allows users to select any municipality and assess the affordability of its water and wastewater rates for residential customers. The tool generates information based on census data and collected utility rates. An explanation of the tool can be found here.
- Funding Tables – Funding sources by state or territory have been compiled so that visitors to the EFCN website can look through a list of funding resources available in their state.
- On-site Decentralized Wastewater Switchboard – The Southwest Environmental Finance Center offers a compilation of information on the ownership, operation, and maintenance of septic tanks, community cluster systems, and lagoons.
- Multimedia Library – The EFCN regularly hosts webinars and podcasts and publishes blogs on current environmental finance topics. These resources can be conveniently sorted by topic and by media type.
- Training and Events – While the multimedia library contains links to past events, the training and events page will exhibit events that are open to registration in the near future. The trainings and webinars can be sorted by location, date, topic, and mode of instruction (in person or virtual). Registration information for upcoming events is available along with learning objectives, trainer information, and notes on the target audience for the event. Many of the events are free and offer CEU credits.
From water rates analysis to stormwater management, the members of the EFCN have a wide range of expertise and are available and ready to help communities find creative solutions. So, take a look through the resources on the please head to the contact tab to leave a question or sign up for the newsletter.
Need technical assistance? The SOG Environmental Finance Center is here to help!
The School of Government Environmental Finance Center offers free one-on-one technical assistance for small water systems. If you are interested in our support, fill out our Technical Assistance Request Form or contact us at efc@sog.unc.edu.