Water and Wastewater
Orrick is a leading national public finance firm for water and wastewater financings.
Since 1985, members of our Water and Wastewater Financing Group have participated in over 800 tax-exempt financings aggregating nearly $80 billion dollars.
We participate in financings for a broad range of purposes such as:
- Storage facilities
- Treatment and pre-treatment facilities
- Collection and distribution facilities
- Desalination facilities
- System expansion and maintenance
- Rate relief and debt service savings
We particularly enjoy working with clients on long term capital programs and cutting edge financing structures and the development of new credits.
Most water and wastewater debt obligations are secured by a pledge of the revenues of the issuer’s water or wastewater enterprise, we also work on issues secured by project revenues assessments, property taxes and/or payments to be made by private of public entities. Financing structures have included:
- Revenue bonds
- Certificates of participation
- Direct loans from state agencies or financial institutions
- Commercial paper
- Assessment bonds
As bond counsel, we also represent issuers in negotiating the terms of credit and liquidity agreement and interest rate swaps and other structured products.
Our practice is issuer-oriented and our issuer clients include state agencies, cities, special districts and joint exercise of powers agencies. Issuer clients in recent years have included:
- Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency
- California Department of Water Resources
- California Pollution Control Financing Authority
- Contra Costa Water District
- East Bay Municipal Utility District
- Guam Waterworks Authority
- Honolulu Board of Water Supply
- Los Angeles Department of Water & Power
- NYC Municipal Water Financing Authority
- NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation
- Public Utilities Commission of the City and County of San Francisco
- San Diego County Water Authority
Most of our issuer clients, however, have been smaller agencies less frequently in the market.
In addition to serving as bond counsel, we also regularly serve as disclosure counsel or as counsel to the underwriters or other financing participants.
We have also served as financing counsel on a number of public/private partnerships involving a variety of private company “design, build and operate” water and desalination projects, P3 concessions and privatizations.
