WASHINGTON, DC, May 7, 2014 -- Entities seeking to establish or expand watershed management groups can now apply for funding under the Bureau of Reclamation's Cooperative Watershed Management Program. Launched in 2012, the program's purpose is to improve water quality and ecological resilience and to reduce conflicts over water through collaborative conservation efforts in the management of local watersheds.
Funding is available for states, Indian tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, or other organizations with water or power delivery authority located in the western United States or United States Territories to establish a watershed group. Funding is also available for an existing watershed group to expand. Applications are due on Friday, June 6, 2014, at 3 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Up to $100,000 in federal funds may be awarded to an applicant with no more than $50,000 awarded in each year of the project. A non-federal cost share contribution is not required. Some awards for this program will be made in fiscal year 2015 once appropriations are approved by Congress.
WaterSMART is the U.S. Department of the Interior's sustainable water initiative that uses the best available science to improve water conservation and help water resource managers identify strategies to narrow the gap between supply and demand. Since its establishment in 2010, WaterSMART has provided more than $161 million in competitively-awarded funding to non-federal partners, including tribes, water districts, municipalities, and universities through WaterSMART Grants and the Title XVI Program.
The Cooperative Watershed Management Program provides funding for watershed groups to encourage diverse stakeholders to form local groups to address their water management needs. To learn more about the Cooperative Watershed Management Program, please visit http://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/cwmp. The funding opportunity announcement is available at http://www.grants.gov by searching for funding opportunity R14AS00038.
See also:
"Water management in U.S. improved by WaterSMART programs"
"Dept. of Interior releases progress report of National Water Census"
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