WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bureau of Reclamation today announced an $11.1 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to support collaborative planning and design projects that improve water sustainability and efficiency. The 34 grants through Reclamation’s WaterSMART program will support projects in 11 states and Guam. Funding for these grants is provided through President’ Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
“This important investment in the planning and design of water-related projects is focused on improving water management and infrastructure to enhance water supply reliability and promote sustainable practices in water management,” said Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “Through historic resources provided through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we have the opportunity to invest in projects like these to combat the impacts of long-term drought for current and future generations.”
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for climate resilient water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination.
The WaterSMART program also advances the Justice40 Initiative, part of the Biden-Harris administration’s historic commitment to environmental justice, which aims to ensure 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain climate, clean energy and other federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities that have been marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed in November 2021, Reclamation has announced more than $3 billion for a constantly growing tally of more than 440 projects funded by the law. In addition, Reclamation has announced 202 system conservation agreements under the Inflation Reduction Act for an estimated 1.7 million acre-feet of Colorado River system conservation through 2026, totaling $716 million.
The selected projects from today’s announcement include the water main upgrade design for the City of the North Pole, Alaska. The project will receive $164,471 to develop final design plans and specifications for the city’s water mains in the downtown loop to increase infrastructure resiliency. The study will have lasting benefits to water resources within the Tanana Valley Watershed and improve water security for citizens in interior Alaska.
In Texas, the La Feria Irrigation District No. 3 will receive $175,000 to develop a new water strategy to address water shortfalls. The district is located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The district pumps water from the Rio Grande to supply water to the cities of La Feria and Santa Rosa, Sebastian Municipal Utility District, colonias, and farmers. This area has suffered from ongoing drought and reductions in Rio Grande River diversions due to historically low water supplies. The district will work with farmers and municipal system customers to develop a water strategy to identify projects to improve water management, identify alternative water supplies, and expand conservation practices.
In Guam, the Santa Rita Springs Rehabilitation by the Guam Waterworks Authority was selected to receive $400,000 to design an upgrade to the Santa Rita Springs Facility to enhance and protect production from available resources. The spring upgrade will be designed to capture the maximum volume of spring discharge by the addition of a cutoff wall, collection system, associated pumps and automatic diversion valves. This will lead to reduced costs and strengthening of a reliable water source in the Central Water System on the island of Guam.
To view a complete description of all the selected projects, please visit https://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/projectdesign/index.html or https://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/waterstrategy/index.html.
