![\"\"](\"https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/MicrosoftTeams-image.png\")
State Revolving Funds are used to pay for improvements to drinking water and wastewater facilities to keep safe, healthy drinking water flowing into communities and treated wastewater flowing out. These kinds of improvements can be very costly, especially for small, resource-challenged communities. This project is examining potential efficiencies with the funds to make a great funding program even better. You can learn more about the State Revolving Fund project funded by Spring Point Partners<\/a> by clicking here: https:\/\/swefc.unm.edu\/home\/spring-point-funding\/<\/a>. There is also an SRF Switchboard created as part of this project that can be accessed here: https:\/\/swefcsrfswitchboard.unm.edu\/srf\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a Master’s in Water Resources<\/a> student at the University of New Mexico interested in water policy and management. I\u2019m interested in water supply planning, particularly approaches that can improve rural communities’ ability to meet demands for water amid long-term drought. Before coming to UNM and the SW EFC, I worked in journalism and natural resources outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I grew up in the Ozarks of Southern Missouri, where I wore light-up sneakers to help my parents chase coyotes away from the house. Every summer afternoon, my family would pile into a truck and go to the river to swim, fish and rock hunt. Those days at the river made me interested in the policies that impact our rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After completing my bachelor\u2019s in science and agricultural journalism at the University of Missouri, I moved to Western Colorado. Covering water issues as a journalist, I became more familiar with water scarcity and how communities in the Western United States are working to try to plan for a drier future. I soon started working for a water policy organization, where I wrote external communications and helped organize virtual events. At this organization, I saw the immense amount of money it takes to maintain and upgrade water infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why I am excited to learn more about finance policies and programs that can make these kinds of improvements more attainable for our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello, I am Eleanor Hasenbeck. I recently joined the Southwest Environmental Finance Center as a research assistant. At the SWEFC, I am excited to participate in the center\u2019s research on water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure finance, including the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRF and CWSRF, respectively). State Revolving Funds are used […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":239826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"\n The Southwest Environmental Finance Center has created a web-based tool to help water and wastewater utilities evaluate the financial health of their systems. We call this tool WUFA (Water Utility Financial Analysis). It employs an easy-to-use format in which utility managers (or anyone, for that matter) can enter financial data, including revenues, expenses, and assets and liabilities and see five key financial health indicators. The tool can be used for utilities to understand their current financial health, or to predict the results of future activities. The tool has several important features that make it informative, easy to use and flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Definitions and Explanations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The tool includes definitions of most financial components (e.g. revenue, assets, liabilities, depreciation, etc.) and explanations of key financial ratios that are commonly used as indicators of financial health (current ratio, operating ratio, debt service coverage ratio, debt ratio and sales ratio). These ratios are calculated automatically when financial information is entered into the various tabs available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy to Use<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No registration or identifying information is required, and the financial data is not saved outside the browser where the tool is used. The data is saved in the browser (via cookies) and can only be accessed on the same machine in the same browser. Or the user can choose not to save the data in the browser when they leave the site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Flexible<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A user can return as many times as they want to modify information or start over with another set of information. The user can also play \u201cwhat if\u201d to see the effect of changes in revenues, expenses, or liabilities. The tool is free and available for anyone to use on our website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contact us at: swefc@unm.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n