Water for America: Water Marketing and Efficiency Grants for Fiscal Year 2009

Water for America: Expand Protect, and Conserve Our Nations’s Water Resources-Water Marketing and Efficiency Grants for Fiscal Year 2009: The Water for America Initiative (Initiative) is focused on addressing 21st century water challenges, including decreasing water supplies caused by climate change and population growth, and securing water resources for future generations. The President’s fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget requests $31.9 million for the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Water for America activities. Reclamation’s efforts will focus on two of the Initiative’s three strategies: “Plan for Our Nation’s Water Future” and “Expand, Protect, and Conserve Our Nation’s Water Resources.” The U.S. Geological Survey will take on the third strategy to “Enhance Our Nation’s Water Knowledge.” Water for America will offer four Challenge Grant funding opportunities; two are incorporated from Water 2025: Water Marketing and Efficiency Grants and System Optimization Review Grants (SORs). Two new challenge grants are being developed: Advanced Water Treatment Grants, and Species of Concern Grants. These four Challenge Grants will leverage scarce Federal funds to provide the greatest benefits to the West and Nation. The objective of this Announcement is to invite irrigation and water districts, United States Territories, States in the West, and other local entities with water delivery authority to leverage their money and resources by cost sharing with Reclamation on projects that create water markets and make more efficient use of existing water supplies. Projects will be selected through a competitive process that will focus on achieving the outcomes identified in the Initiative. The Department of the Interior (Interior) believes that water banks and markets are essential to secure water supplies in water-short areas of the West. Interior strongly supports the use of these mechanisms, providing that State law allows for them, to enable water to be shifted to address competing water uses while recognizing existing water rights. Accordingly, Water Marketing and Efficiency Grants applications proposing water banking or marketing elements are given priority in the selection process