Projects must meet certain criteria to be eligible for CWIFP.*

* The Fiscal 2021 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act limits the type of eligible projects to safety projects to maintain, upgrade and repair dams identified in the National Inventory of Dams owned by non-federal entities.  While the authorization for the program is broader, current funding is limited to these projects identified in the appropriations act.

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• Projects must be non-Federally owned, operated, and maintained.
• Projects must meet statutory eligibility requirements, including creditworthiness.
• Focus on projects that are not Federally authorized.  **
• A project, submitted by an eligible borrower, must have costs reasonably anticipated to be at least $20 million and must fall under one of the following three categories per the WIFIA authorization:  *
  1. Any project for flood damage reduction, hurricane and storm damage reduction, environmental restoration, coastal or inland harbor navigation improvement, or inland and intracoastal waterways navigation improvement that the Secretary determines is technically sound, economically justified, and environmentally acceptable, including:
     1. A project to reduce flood damage;
     2. A project to restore aquatic ecosystems;
     3. A project to improve the inland and intracoastal waterways navigation system of the United States; and
     4. A project to improve navigation of a coastal inland harbor of the United States, including channel deepening and construction of associated general navigation features.
  2. Acquisition of real property or an interest in real property. The acquisition must either be integral to the project or would mitigate the environmental impacts of water resources infrastructure projects otherwise eligible for CWIFP credit assistance.
  3. A combination of projects described in paragraphs 1 and 2, above, secured by a common security pledge, each of which is eligible for CWIFP credit assistance, for which an eligible entity, or a combination of eligible entities, submits a single application.

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To be eligible for CWIFP credit assistance, a prospective borrower must be at least one of the following:

• A corporation
• A partnership
• A joint venture
• A trust
• A State or local governmental entity, agency, or instrumentality
• A tribal government or consortium of tribal governments
• A State infrastructure financing authority

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**  Federal authorization restriction further explained:

The WIFIA authorization does not restrict Federally authorized projects to be eligible under WIFIA.  Current criteria issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding projects authorized by Congress to be constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers or the Bureau of Reclamation prevents these projects from being eligible for WIFIA funding.  This restriction appears in the footnotes of the Federal Register notice on 30 June 2020 which can be found here.