SACRAMENTO, CA -- As part of an ongoing effort to address California’s critical water needs and build regional self-reliance in the face of a changing climate, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) on Sept. 29 announced nearly $37 million in grant awards for water resilience projects in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
ACWA members among the grant recipients include Los Angeles County Waterworks Districts, a division of the Los Angeles County of Public Works; Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; Valley County Water District; Las Virgenes Municipal Water District (LVMWD); Central Basin Municipal Water District; Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency; Calleguas Municipal Water District (CMWD); and United Water Conservation District.
The grant awards are funded by voter-approved Proposition 1 and administered through DWR’s Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Program, which is designed to encourage implementation of water management solutions on a regional scale to improve water quality and flood management, restore and enhance ecosystems, and provide more reliable surface and groundwater supplies, according to a DWR news release.
For example, neighboring agencies CMWD and LVMWD in Los Angeles and Ventura counties depend entirely on imported water. An interconnection project received $3.5 million in funding for a new pipeline, pump station, and pressure reducing station to allow delivery of alternative potable water supplies from one district to the other during emergency and normal operating conditions, according to DWR.
The latest awards conclude the grant solicitation period for Round 1 of DWR’s Proposition 1 IRWM Implementation Grant Program. In total, more than $212 million in grants has been awarded since April 2020, funding approximately 250 projects throughout the state. These include nearly 35 projects that serve to improve groundwater sustainability, four Flood Managed Aquifer Recharge projects, and 25 ecosystem improvement projects. More than $81 million of that funding was also awarded to projects benefiting disadvantaged and underrepresented communities, including at least four projects that will support California Tribes.
The Round 2 grant solicitation process is planned to commence in late-2021 and will offer more than $180 million in competitive grant funding.
