Iowa Regional Utilities Association was founded in the late 1970s to deliver water to a single rural county. Today, IRUA is a much larger enterprise, providing regional water and wastewater service to 19 counties in central and northeast Iowa, including 67 communities and 15,000 farms as well as rural residents and multiple industrial parks.
IRUA’s strategy has been based on the concept of “regionalization”—combining small local water systems to gain efficiencies and economies of scale. The utility has been highly effective at building partnerships with adjoining communities and nearby residents to meet the demand for its services.
“Regional water and wastewater systems like IRUA are the only way folks living in rural Iowa can receive safe, potable water and wastewater services at an affordable price,” says Jim LaPlant, IRUA CEO. “These services are critically important to the vitality of rural America and are essential to rural economic development.”
CoBank is our key financial partner in developing new projects, sometimes on a very short timeline to meet EPA compliance schedules and to enable us to meet all the conditions to close state or federal loans.
IRUA is focused on keeping its rates affordable by maintaining an adequate customer base as it faces the ongoing shift of population from rural to urban areas. In addition to actively seeking to team up with customers and communities adjacent to its current boundaries, IRUA invests in more densely populated rural areas—those that surround larger cities and suburbs— within its existing service territory.
For 30 years, CoBank has financed IRUA’s delivery of clean, safe and reliable water—which has been recognized as the best tasting water in the country by the National Rural Water Association. Beginning with a $9 million construction loan in the early 1990s, CoBank today provides $49 million in commitments for lines of credit and term loans, including a 2019 $7.7 million refinancing that is expected to deliver a substantial interest savings over the remaining loan term. CoBank also provides cash management services so that excess cash is directed to the line of credit account every day to reduce interest expense.
“CoBank is our key financial partner in developing new projects, sometimes on a very short timeline to meet EPA compliance schedules and to enable us to meet all the conditions to close state or federal loans,” says LaPlant. “The CoBank water team understands our business and works with us to develop and use the right financial products for our needs.”
“IRUA’s leadership has been extremely savvy in leading their system to tremendous growth even as the population they traditionally serve is shrinking,” says Chris Shaffner, CoBank senior vice president of Water and Community Facilities. “By building relationships and collaborations, they’ve overcome previous boundaries to deliver an essential service to their rural communities.”