PROVIDENCE — East Providence's now some two-decade-long attempt to update aspects of its water system recently received a significant boost after it was announced the city had closed on a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan with the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank in the amount of $26.1 million for the continued repair and refurbishing of its aged pipes.

The bank announced the closure of the loan via a December 27 press release. Of significance, the loan includes $3.9 million in "principal forgiveness," via a grant, for projects performed in city.

Funding for the loan was made available through the commonly-referred to Bipartisan Infrastructure law, (officially known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021.

Mayor Bob DaSilva was quoted in the press release as saying, in part, “Access to safe drinking water is one of the foundational building blocks of any community, and with this funding from Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, East Providence will be making a generational investment in our City’s drinking water infrastructure. Using these dollars, we will be cleaning and lining approximately two thirds of water mains across the City, as well as making other investments in our drinking water infrastructure. Infrastructure that our residents and businesses rely on every day."

Bill Fazioli, the executive director of the Infrastructure Bank, was also quoted in the release. The city resident, former and current appointed official in EP, including a stint in the DaSilva administration as Planning director, said, "Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank is pleased to make this $26,000,000 loan to the City of East Providence so they can invest in and upgrade their drinking water infrastructure. Safe drinking water is something people take for granted. But behind the delivery of that water to customers taps is billions of dollars in infrastructure that needs to be maintained."

The City Council authorized the administration to seek a loan of $26.1 million some five weeks ago at its November 21 meeting. At that time, according to the explanation of City Solicitor Michael Marcello, the city's bond counsel recommended the Council approve all of the funding the city was seeking, including what the solicitor said that evening was "$3 million" is forgiveness.

Reached late last week to clarify the differing figures from the November 21 meeting and the December 27 press release provided by the bank, its spokesperson Christopher Hunter wrote in an email reply, "The city will receive $26.1 million in total. The other $100,000 is for lead line replacement work outside of the cleaning and lining work. The grant funds are part of the BIL funding that allows for principal forgiveness towards the larger loan and obviously doesn’t have to be repaid. The actual amount of the principal forgiveness is $3.9 million."

Of the Bipartisan Infrastructure law's total sum of approximately $1.2 trillion, Rhode Island's expected share is $1.8 billion over five years. In all, the act added another $550 billion to $570 billion in previously authorized earmarks by Congress for such things as broadband access, water and electrical projects along with transportation and road upgrades.

Specifically for water infrastructure, the spending designations are as follows:

To support safe drinking water programs:

• $11.7 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF)
• $15 billion to local water systems for lead service line replacement
• $9 billion to address emerging contaminants such as PFAS ($4 billion through the SRF and $5 billion through grants to water utilities)
• $3.5 billion to build water and sewer systems for the Indian Health Service.

For surface water programs, such as watershed management and pollution control:

• $12.7 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to support state and local government water quality programs
• $1.7 billion for geographic-based programs including the National Estuary Program, the Great Lakes program and the Chesapeake Bay Program.

Rhode Island US Senator Jack Reed recently touted the two-year anniversary of the legislation, noting the law has already invested $57 million for Rhode Island’s lead pipe and service line replacement efforts with another $39 million for safe drinking water investments that can also support lead pipe replacement.

The funding here is also set aside for highway and bridge repair as well as to improve road safety, reduce congestion and vehicle emissions and fuel savings. The senator's office estimates that when the law is fully implemented Rhode Island will also receive $292 million for mass-transit, $45 million for airports and $23 million for new electric vehicle charging stations.

A broader overview of the bill calls for the following spending initiatives...

• $110 billion for roads, bridges and other major projects
• $11 billion for transportation safety programs
• $39 billion to modernize transit and improve accessibility
• $66 billion for passenger and freight rail
• $7.5 billion to build a national network of electric vehicle chargers
• $73 billion to overhaul the nation's power infrastructure, clean energy transmission, and overall energy policy
• $65 billion for broadband development