Shearman & Sterling represented the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on the extension of a secured loan totaling approximately $280 million to the City of Wichita, Kansas for the construction of the Northwest Water Treatment Facility Project. The loan, issued under the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) program, will fund a portion of the cost to replace the city’s existing 80-year old drinking water treatment plant with a new, state-of-the-art facility with the ability to treat up to 120 million gallons of water each day. The new facility is intended to provide reliable, quality drinking water to 500,000 residents and businesses. The City of Wichita is the first borrower in Kansas to receive a WIFIA loan.

Total project costs are projected to be approximately $570 million.  In addition to the portion to be funded with WIFIA loan proceeds, approximately $270 million in costs are expected to be funded with proceeds of a loan from the Kansas Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. With this loan closing, USEPA has now issued 18 WIFIA loans totaling approximately $4 billion in credit assistance to help finance approximately $9 billion for water infrastructure projects.

The Team