[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″ use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_start=”rgba(0,0,0,0.1)” background_color_gradient_end=”rgba(0,0,0,0.11)” background_color_gradient_overlays_image=”on” background_image=”https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/bridge_centered_cropped.jpg” height=”235px” box_shadow_style=”preset7″ box_shadow_horizontal=”0px” box_shadow_blur=”10px” saved_tabs=”all”][et_pb_row custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” _builder_version=”4.4.8″ custom_padding=”6px||||false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding_phone=””][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.8″ text_font=”Cormorant Garamond|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”46px” text_line_height=”1.3em” background_enable_color=”off” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”-45px||0px||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”12px||||false|false” custom_padding_phone=”58px||||false|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” text_line_height_tablet=”” text_line_height_phone=”1.3em” text_line_height_last_edited=”on|desktop” text_text_shadow_style=”preset2″]<\/p>\n
Who We Are<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″ custom_margin=”|5%||5%|false|false” custom_padding=”29px|||||”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Staff_Retreat-scaled.jpg” title_text=”Staff_Retreat” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.4.8″ width=”66%”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.4.8″ text_font=”Arial||||||||” text_text_color=”#333333″]<\/p>\n
The Southwest Environmental Finance Center<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC), formerly called the New Mexico Environmental Finance Center, has been in business within a university setting since 1992.\u00a0 <\/span>We are<\/span> a public service entity within the University of New Mexico School of Engineering\u2019s Center for Water and the Environment.\u00a0 <\/span>We are<\/span> dedicated to assisting state, local, and tribal governments as well as the private sector with the <\/span>technical, managerial, and financial aspects of <\/span>environmental service delivery and environmental compliance.\u00a0 Since its inception the SW EFC has worked with water and wastewater <\/span>entities<\/span> <\/span>all across<\/span> the country in a variety of <\/span>capacities<\/span> including training and direct technical assistance<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>W<\/span>e<\/span> are able to<\/span> comprehens<\/span>ively address water and wastewa<\/span>ter needs, but we have <\/span>particular strengths<\/span> in the following areas: asset <\/span>mana<\/span>g<\/span>ement<\/span>, <\/span>water loss auditing and control, <\/span>environmental compliance<\/span>, tribal drinking water,\u00a0<\/span> water system partnerships, water and wastewater funding,<\/span> green infrastructure, <\/span>GIS <\/span>mapping,<\/span> and energy efficiency.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We aim<\/span> to build the internal capacity of the entities we assist so that the knowledge, skills, and ability to meet environmental challenges (such as water loss control, regulatory compliance, or replacing decaying infrastructure)\u00a0<\/span> accrue <\/span>to individuals within the utility rather than residing solely with an outside entity.\u00a0 <\/span>We<\/span> strive<\/span> to work <\/span>with<\/span><\/i> the entities we serve rather than <\/span>for<\/span><\/i> the entities we serve.\u00a0 We<\/span> want our partners to<\/span> be an integral part of projects so they can improve their internal capabilities for long-term sustainability and resilience.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Our broad<\/span> experience<\/span> and the fact that we work at all levels, federal, regional, state, and local<\/span> gives us <\/span>a thorough understanding of the issues <\/span>water and wastewater utilities<\/span> currently face,<\/span> and <\/span>the gaps in <\/span>available programs and resources.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We address<\/span> these gaps by <\/span>pla<\/span>cing<\/span> a<\/span> strong emphasis on technical information transfer at all levels.\u00a0 This transfer occurs <\/span>through <\/span>the many trainings <\/span>we <\/span>conduct<\/span> both in person and remotely via webinars or <\/span>virtual <\/span>meetings;<\/span> presentations <\/span>we give <\/span>at regional, national, and international <\/span>conferences;<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> work groups<\/span> we participate in<\/span>; and the <\/span>many<\/span> free<\/span> resources, such as reports, guidebooks, and tools<\/span> that we develop<\/span> and<\/span> disseminate widely<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The SW EFC <\/span>is the<\/span> first <\/span>o<\/span>f a group of EFCs established at universities across the country by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).\u00a0 The SW EFC<\/span> initially focused on the EPA Region 6 states.\u00a0 However, over the past <\/span>28<\/span> years, we have expanded our reach significantly and between <\/span>all of<\/span> our projects and other activities, such as conferences, we have worked in one way or another in every state in the nation and <\/span>all of<\/span> the US Territories.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Affiliation with EFCN<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The SW EFC is a member of the Environmental Finance Center Network (EFCN) which includes 1<\/span>0<\/span> other university or non-profit-based centers, <\/span>including: the University of Southern Maine<\/a>, Syracuse University<\/a>, the University of Maryland<\/a>, the University of North Carolina<\/a>, Michigan Technological University<\/a>, Wichita State University<\/a>, Rural Community Assistance Corporation (Region 10)<\/a>, Rural Water Association (Region 8)<\/a>, Sacramento State University<\/a> and Earth Island Institute<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span>We work both individually on our own projects and collaboratively with the various centers within the EFCN.\u00a0 <\/span>The affiliation with<\/span> these other centers is a tremendous resource as it greatly increases the capacity of all of us to be able to serve the nation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.4.8″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/AboutMAP.jpg” title_text=”AboutMAP” _builder_version=”4.4.8″ custom_margin=”||||false|false”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Who We AreThe Southwest Environmental Finance Center\u00a0 The Southwest Environmental Finance Center (SW EFC), formerly called the New Mexico Environmental Finance Center, has been in business within a university setting since 1992.\u00a0 We are a public service entity within the University of New Mexico School of Engineering\u2019s Center for Water and the Environment.\u00a0 We are dedicated to assisting state, local, and tribal governments as well as the private sector with the technical, managerial, and financial aspects of environmental service delivery and environmental compliance.\u00a0 Since its inception the SW EFC has worked with water and wastewater entities all across the country in a variety of capacities including training and direct technical assistance.\u00a0 We are able to comprehensively address water and wastewater needs, but we have particular strengths in the following areas: asset management, water loss auditing and control, environmental compliance, tribal drinking water,\u00a0 water system partnerships, water and wastewater funding, green infrastructure, GIS mapping, and energy efficiency.\u00a0 We aim to build the internal capacity of the entities we assist so that the knowledge, skills, and ability to meet environmental challenges (such as water loss control, regulatory compliance, or replacing decaying infrastructure)\u00a0 accrue to individuals within the utility rather than residing solely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-102","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240281,"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/102\/revisions\/240281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}