Keep Funds Flowing: How WIFIA helped Springfield accelerate a ‘massive capital program’

Like any utility, the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission in Massachusetts keeps a running tally of its infrastructure needs and prioritizes project by risk, based on how soon components will reach the end of their life spans and potentially hinder drinking water or wastewater service.

A few years ago, that list grew longer than the commission could feasibly tackle.

“When we looked at what the projects were, we couldn’t get them all done in a period of time that adequately reduced risk,” said Josh Schimmel, executive director of the commission. On top of that, state limits on state revolving funds, or SRFs, and restrictive bond provisions further hampered the financing options available to approach much of the aging infrastructure. “We had a massive capital program and very limited ways to pay for it,” he said.

That changed with the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program.

With WIFIA’s flexibility, Springfield was able to bundle 31 critical projects into a single financing package, which was — at the time, in 2021 — somewhat unique. The bundled approach allowed the commission to accelerate construction timelines, reduce costs, and improve service delivery. “We were able to do them quicker, which meant that they were cheaper — we could do them now rather than when costs rise — and we were able to reduce risk tremendously rather than waiting for these things to fail and responding then,” he said.

The scope of work was unprecedented for the commission, which has been operating as an independent regional utility for about 30 years. With WIFIA and SRF funding combined, Springfield was able to take on $500 million in infrastructure improvements — far more than would have been possible through conventional means. The financial structure also allowed the commission to shape its debt repayment in ways that traditional bonds couldn’t accommodate, resulting in an estimated $80 million in savings to ratepayers over 20 years.

WIFIA and other federal financing programs are facing cuts in the U.S. Congress. WIFIA provides long-term loans that can be combined with other funding to tackle large-scale infrastructure upgrades and investments. The low-cost loans mean lower costs for utilities and ultimately, ratepayers. A 2025 survey from the Value of Water Campaign found that 80% of voters support continued federal funding for water infrastructure.

The American Water Works Association is elevating projects like Springfield’s to illustrate the critical importance of maintaining WIFIA and SRFs.

A cornerstone project in Springfield’s package was a new drinking water treatment plant designed to serve 250,000 residents. “Our treatment plants were just dated,” Schimmel said. “They could not treat to today’s standards.”

The commission has been out of compliance for disinfection byproducts, and the new facility is essential to restoring safe, reliable service. Without WIFIA, the project would have been financially out of reach. “We were not going to be able to build this treatment plant,” Schimmel said. “I have no doubt we wouldn’t have been able to bond for it because it would have been too costly.”

Other critical projects included a new wastewater pump station and new conveyance pipes across the Connecticut River, replacing one as old as 85 years, as well as updates to a wastewater treatment facility.

For Schimmel, the decision to pursue WIFIA was clear. “We went from saying, ‘We couldn’t afford to do the work’ to ‘We couldn’t afford to not take advantage of the opportunity that WIFIA presented to us,’” he said.