The act is passed as a response to the crumbling water infrastructure in the U.S. This new funding strategy opens up the control of water infrastructures to private companies. The act is designed to attract "substantial private or other non-federal investments to promote increased development of critical water infrastructure" (Dannin, 2014).

Critics will point out that the financing scheme allows the private “partner” to put in as little as three percent of the investment. "In other words, rather than the private partner coming to the rescue of cash-strapped governments, it is the public that must subsidize private contractors" (Dannin, 2014).