Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Opportunities for private capital in the water sector

These funds will be allocated to several new, and reauthorized, grant and loan programs with the goal of rebuilding and maintaining aging water and wastewater systems around the country. Consistent with the core overall themes of the IIJA, these programs will have a particular focus on preparing U.S. infrastructure for the effects of climate change and on the development of infrastructure in rural communities.

In this article, the second of a series exploring the impact of the IIJA across sectors, we identify the provisions of the IIJA which we believe to be of greatest interest to investors in the water sector. While the IIJA does not provide the same volume of direct private investment opportunities in the water sector as it does in (for example) the energy and transport sectors, the influx of federal funding into the sector is likely to drive demand for relevant service providers, materials and skills and create a number of indirect opportunities to deploy private capital.