Bureau of Reclamation awards $25.6 million WaterSMART grants, 14 California projects are included

Fourteen California agencies will receive grant funds from the Bureau of Reclamation to support projects to increase water and energy conservation and efficiency, plan for climate change and other threats to our water supplies, and to take action to secure our water resources for the communities, economies and ecosystems they support.

In total Reclamation will award more than $26.6 million in WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficiency Grants to 53 projects in 11 states with their FY 2016 grants. States receiving the grants include California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

California awards, their projects and the grant funding includes:

• Buena Vista Water Storage District: Northern Area Pipeline Southeast Extension Project ($1M)
• City of Big Bear Lake Department of Water and Power: Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project ($300K) and 12-inch Big Bear Boulevard Pipeline Project ($300K)
• City of Fresno: School Districts Conservation Project ($300K)
• Coachella Valley Water District: Turf Reduction Water and Energy Efficiency Program ($1M)
• East Bay Municipal Water District: Water and Energy Conservation through Advanced Metering Infrastructure ($1M)
• El Dorado Irrigation District: Main Ditch Piping Project ($1M)
• Fresno Irrigation District: Could Canal-Friant Kern Canal Intertie Project ($300K)
• Kern County Water Agency: Cross Valley Canal Extension Lining Project Pool No. 8 ($1M)
• Laguna Beach County Water District: Advanced Metering Infrastructure to Enhance Water and Energy Efficiency Project ($300K)
• Madera Irrigation District: Irrigation Water Conservation and Canal Automation Improvement Project ($292,261) and Lateral 24.2-17.0 Pipeline Improvement Project ($580,990)
• Mojave Water Agency: Commercial, Industrial and Institutional Turf Replacement Program ($300K)
• Municipal Water District of Orange County: Comprehensive Landscape Water Use Efficiency Program – Phase II ($299,934)
• Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District: Stockdale East Groundwater Recharge Project ($1M)
• West Valley Water District: Water Use Efficiency in Disadvantaged Communities ($300K)

Congress recognized the need to help fund water and energy projects to protect and stabilize water concerns and projects with the passage of the SECURE Water Act in 2010.  The law authorizes federal water and science agencies to work together with state and local water managers to meet these challenges.

According to Reclamation’s we site WaterSMART allows all bureaus of the Department of the Interior to work with states, tribes, local governments and non-governmental organizations to pursue a sustainable water supply for the nation by establishing a framework to provide federal leadership and assistance on the efficient use of water, integrating water and energy policies to support the sustainable use of all natural resources, and coordinating the water conservation activities of various Interior offices.