WIFA SEEKING TEAMS WITH CAPACITY TO DEVELOP WATER IMPORTATION PROJECTS THROUGH COMPETITIVE SOLICITATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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[PHOENIX, November 20, 2024] – The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA) has published a solicitation seeking qualified project teams to develop water importation projects.
The solicitation marks the first phase of project development that WIFA will undertake to identify, evaluate, and develop projects to bring new, renewable water supplies into the state. Through this competitive procurement process, WIFA will solicit responses from fully formed teams of project proposers who have demonstrated experience in engineering, constructing, operating, maintaining, and financing water augmentation projects. WIFA will evaluate the qualifications of project proposers through their answers to detailed questions and criteria contained in the solicitation. Qualified respondents will be selected by WIFA to further develop their project ideas, providing WIFA with additional information necessary to evaluate the viability of each proposal.
Entities with an interest in this process or future phases of project development are encouraged to participate in the solicitation. To access the solicitation and other important information, visit ltwaf.azwifa.gov.
WIFA’s long-term augmentation mission was established in 2022 when the Arizona Legislature determined that a comprehensive water strategy, including augmentation of existing water resources with renewable supplies, was necessary to protect Arizona’s current and future residents, the economy, and the environment. The solicitation is an important step toward fulfilling WIFA’s statutory directive to meet Arizona’s future water needs through water augmentation.
WIFA’s Long-Term Augmentation Committee, a subset of WIFA’s Board of Directors, worked through the Spring and Summer to draft the solicitation. The Committee’s chairman, Ted Cooke, emphasized the importance of the solicitation as a sign of WIFA’s thoughtful and professional approach to selecting water augmentation projects. “I am extremely proud of the work we have done to prove that WIFA is a serious player in water infrastructure development,” Cooke said. “We have designed this competitive project development process to attract extremely capable teams with outside-the-box ideas for bringing water to Arizona and give WIFA the opportunity to publicly and transparently vet those projects, ensuring that we select the right one for our state.”
“WIFA’s augmentation mission is a quintessential example of how Arizona is consistently and effectively working toward a secure, resilient, and sustainable water future,” said WIFA Board Chairman Jonathan Lines. “Arizona has long been serious about water. Similarly, WIFA takes seriously its mission to find new water resources so that our state can continue to grow and thrive. I
look forward to seeing the responses to this solicitation and learning more about what will be the next major milestone in Arizona’s water stewardship story.”
About WIFA
WIFA is a state agency dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of Arizona's present and future water supply through financial investments in effective augmentation, conservation, reuse, and water quality. WIFA is Arizona's administrator of the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF and DWSRF), providing low-interest loans and technical assistance to water and clean water infrastructure projects, as well as three new funds aimed at conserving water and identifying new supplies. Over the last 30 years, WIFA has proudly invested almost $3 billion in communities throughout Arizona driving sustainable solutions and helping to secure Arizona’s water future.
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