United Regional Water Cooperative Community Profile

Small water utilities face unique challenges when they need to update their infrastructure. There are increasing demands for clean water to serve public health, but a small customer base and relatively fewer assets are available to pay for it. For six communities in central Illinois, those challenges led to cooperation, collaboration, and the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility to deliver clean water to more than 5,000 people with the help of Water Finance Exchange (WFX). 

The locally-driven project started with the creation of the United Regional Water Cooperative (URWC) made up of the six communities. In 2020, URWC closed on a loan with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development (USDA-RD) for the $12.2 million project, including a 45% grant and a 1.5% interest on a fixed rate for 40 years. However, after URWC secured the loan, the project encountered regulatory and financial hurdles. 

Read the full community profile here.