California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced Friday the award of $26 million in grant funding for capital project investments to improve water supply security, water quality and the reliability of domestic wells.
This funding provides important assistance for successful local implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which establishes a framework for managing the state’s groundwater resources and will help California be better prepared for longer, more severe droughts.
“California’s current drought conditions following a second consecutive dry year speak to the importance of managing our groundwater for long-term reliability,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “Today’s funding awards further the state’s support for local leaders as they manage their groundwater supplies, particularly supporting communities at risk of drought impacts.”
According to DWR, this grant funding supports projects that will enhance groundwater quality, help make groundwater wells more reliable, reduce the risk of subsidence, increase drought resiliency, reduce flood risks, and create more reliable dry-year water supplies during future droughts.
The six awards include 16 individual construction projects within critically overdrafted groundwater basins in the Central Valley. One of the projects, located in Fresno County, will construct 60 wells that will be used to replenish depleted groundwater aquifers with stormwater.
An additional three projects will create infrastructure to use Flood Managed Aquifer Recharge (Flood-MAR) on 45,000 acres of agricultural land in Madera County.
All of the awards will partially or solely benefit underrepresented communities that have limited access to safe, affordable drinking water.
Funding for these awards was made possible by voter-approved Proposition 68. A second round of grant funding is expected in spring 2022.
