Home California DWR Opens Comment Period on Funding Recommendations for Proposed Projects to Alleviate Drought Impacts

DWR Opens Comment Period on Funding Recommendations for Proposed Projects to Alleviate Drought Impacts

by ECT

2014 Drought Grant Solicitation

SACRAMENTO – The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today announced its recommendations to award $200 million in grants to 23 Integrated Regional Water Management Groups (RWMGs) for at least 110 projects and programs that will help alleviate drought conditions and improve regional drought preparedness. DWR recommends fully funding 18 RWMG proposals and partially funding five.

Funding will be through the Proposition 84 program, a $5.4 billion general obligation bonds measure approved by voters in 2006, which authorized $1 billion in funding for IRWM, including $900 million that provided dedicated allocations of funding to 11 hydrologic regions in California.

Funding for this grant solicitation was appropriated to DWR on March 1, 2014 when Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed a $687.4 million package of drought-response legislation. The Governor and Legislature directed DWR to expedite the solicitation and award of the $200 million to support projects and programs that:

  • Provide immediate regional drought preparedness;
  • Increase local water supply reliability and the delivery of safe drinking water;
  • Assist water suppliers and regions to implement conservation programs and measures that are not locally cost-effective;
  • Reduce water quality conflicts or ecosystem conflicts created by the drought.

DWR issued a solicitation in June and received 39 proposals requesting approximately $339 million for a total of 180 projects, with a total project cost of approximately $970 million. The proposals were reviewed and evaluated consistent with program guidelines and the proposal solicitation package that are posted at DWR’s website.

DWR’s funding recommendation covers 23 proposals for projects with an estimated total cost of $600 million. DWR grants will help leverage approximately $400 million in additional funds from local and federal sources.

The draft funding recommendations would provide funding to a wide variety of projects, including the following examples:

  • Installation of approximately 13,000 linear feet of pipeline to serve recycled water to 2,000 acres of San Benito County agricultural land that is currently irrigated with potable water.
  • Construction of three new wells and the upgrade of three existing interties and construction of two new interties to strengthen the water supply reliability of six disadvantaged community public water systems in Ukiah, the county seat of Mendocino County.
  • Replacement of 18 miles of the unlined Amador Water Agency Canal with a pipeline that will conserve about 1,800 acre-feet/year (AFY) of water lost through seepage and evaporation.
  • The development of two groundwater recharge basins and installation of new reverse flow pumps to conserve approximately 1,000 AFY in the Arvin-Edison area.

The proposals recommended for funding are linked here:

http://www.water.ca.gov/irwm/grants/docs/ImplementationGrants/P84Imp_Drought_2014_DraftFundingRecTable.pdf

DWR will host a public comment meeting on September 30, 2014; members of the public not able to attend can join a webcast of the meeting. The public comment period will close on October 8, 2014. Following an expedited consideration of public comments, DWR anticipates announcing final awards by October 31, 2014.

September 30, 2014 at 1:30 p.m.
CalEPA Building
Sierra Hearing Room
1001 I Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

This meeting will be web broadcast via the following link: http://www.calepa.ca.gov/broadcast/

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