WaterNow’s work is in the news! As explained by our Executive Director, Cynthia Koehler, in her 3-part blog series on financing the future of water infrastructure, the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) recently issued a technical implementation guide indicating that public utilities have the option of capitalizing certain costs, such as reimbursing customers for water efficient appliances, instead of paying for these programs exclusively out of operating cash.
This development, along with other recent changes that will shape the future of the municipal water bond market, are detailed in Ceres, Inc.’s new article for The Bond Buyer: “How climate change threatens to leave water bonds high and dry.” The article explains why climate resiliency is becoming an increasingly material issue for utilities that manage water infrastructure and investors who buy the bonds to finance these assets. Ceres also highlights new breakthroughs in how utilities can meet this challenge. One of these important breakthroughs is GASB’s clarification that “green roofs, smart meters, water efficient devices and other water-saving measures are assets that can be capitalized and debt-financed by water utilities.”
To learn more about how you can take advantage of the opportunity to debt-finance your distributed infrastructure email [email protected].