DOI announces $35M for WaterSMART Planning and Project Design Grants
Eligible applicants: states, local authorities, regional authorities, tribes, special districts, and nonprofits. Applications are due October 17, 2023.
Opportunity: WaterSMART Planning and Project Design Grants
Announcement Type: Notice of Funding Opportunity (the program is now open to applications)
Overview and Eligible Uses: This includes funding for water strategy grants to conduct planning and project design activities to improve water supplies and create comprehensive drought contingency plans.The focus is divided into three distinct Task Areas, ensuring equitable evaluation by separately assessing projects in each category.
Task C.4.1 Water Strategy Grants: This task area supports the initial planning, outreach, technical analyses, project scoping, and strategy document development for a range of water supply, marketing, management, and restoration projects. The goal is to encourage sustainable water resource utilization and counter the impacts of climate change. Projects enhancing ecological values, watershed health, and diverse water uses are embraced, including preparatory work for WaterSMART initiatives.
Task C.4.2 Project Design Grants: Under this task, collaborative cost sharing facilitates the final design phase for medium to large-scale water supply construction, management, and restoration projects. Prior preliminary planning and specific project location identification are prerequisites, with a focus on achieving a 60% design level, enabling subsequent consideration for construction funding.
Task C.4.3 Drought Contingency Planning: This task emphasizes proactive drought response through the development or updates of comprehensive Drought Contingency Plans. Project proposals are structured into Phase I (involving the establishment of a Task Force, Work Plan, and Communication and Outreach Plan) and Phase II (comprising plan development and the inclusion of mandatory elements). The goal is to enhance water reliability and management by integrating advanced technologies and modeling capabilities.
Amount: Total funding of approximately $35M for 60-70 projects, and up to $400,000 per application for projects that can be completed within 3 years.
Award Type: Cooperative Agreement grant
Eligible Applicants:
Water Strategy Grants and Project Design Grants:
Water Strategy Grants and Project Design Grants Category A applicants: States, Tribes, irrigation districts, and water districts; State, regional, or local authorities, the members of which include one or more organizations with water or power delivery authority; and other organizations with water or power delivery authority.
***All applicants must be located in one of the following States or territories: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Category B applicants: Nonprofit conservation organizations that are acting in partnership with, and with the agreement of, an entity described in Category A.
***All Category B applicants must be located in the United States or the specific territories identified above. Category B applicants must include with their application a letter from the Category A partner stating that the Category A partner: (1) is acting in partnership with the applicant; (2) agrees to the submittal and content of the application; and (3) intends to participate in the project in some way, for example, by providing input, feedback, or other support for the project.
Drought Contingency Planning
A State, Tribe, irrigation district, water district, or other organization with water or power delivery in one of the following states or territories: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands
Key Dates:
Applications for FY 2023 funding are due October 17, 2023
Applications for FY 2024 funding are due after October 17, 2023, and before April 2, 2024.
Key Links:
For a full list of currently available grant programs under the Infrastructure Law and other helpful tools, take a look at our Helpful Resources page.
This tracker will continue to send updates when new funding opportunities are announced.