WIFIA is “a modest proposal” that begins the difficult process of introducing a new, federal financing tool into the most local and conservative of all infrastructure markets—municipal utilities. It’s passage initially elated water utility lobbyists who have been struggling in vain to get Congress to help tackle municipal water needs. P3s may be part of the answer, but the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) won’t help very much, mainly because it takes tax-exempt financing out of the project funding mix.