The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority (RWA) has issued its first “Green Bonds” series to refinance a large-scale emergency repair project which was completed last year.
Dan Doyle, authority public affairs & communications manager, said the bonds represent an opportunity for people who want to invest their money in “green,” or environmentally friendly and beneficial, projects.
“For bonds to be certified as “green” they need to meet certain principles and have a clear environmental benefit,” Doyle said.
In this case, the project involved sustainable water management and drinking water infrastructure upgrades, he said.
The nonprofit water utility, headquartered on Sargent Drive in New Haven, serves approximately 430,000 people in 15 municipalities and protects around 27,700 acres of land. Lake Gaillard in North Branford is the authority’s largest reservoir.
The Great Hill Tunnel and Pipeline were originally completed in 1927. In the fall of 2017, RWA officials discovered that a previously known and managed leak in the tunnel had grown, and there was a new leak in the pipeline. They determined the two leaks equated to at least 200,000 gallons per day. Officials feared a “catastrophic expansion” of these leaks, which could have meant flooding, property damage, loss of water service, and even the potential for loss of life, according to the authority.
Authority officials launched the Great Hill Tunnel & Pipeline Restoration project to fix the leaks. This Great Hill system transports about 60 percent of the authority’s water supply.
According to Doyle, it was an emergency project, and the authority had to borrow money to do it. The North Branford project cost about $14.9 million and was completed in April 2018.
Workers had to install a bypass system from the company’s largest surface reservoir, through an active quarry and back to the authority’s distribution system.
The authority will use the proceeds from these Green Bonds to “pay the interim financing notes issued to initially finance the repair project, including interest due, the cost of issuance and required reserve funds associated with the issuance of the bonds,” Doyle said.
There has already been favorable investor interest in the bonds, according to Doyle. The authority engaged an outside environmental analysis company, Sustainalytics Inc., to provide a second party opinion that these Thirty-fourth Series C Bonds are in alignment with Green Bond principles.
“The RWA has always supported the movement toward investing in environmentally beneficial projects, and elected to issue these green bonds in order to further be a part of that movement,” Doyle said.
Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com
