WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow)

To provide cost-shared funding for various types of water management improvement projects, including: 1) projects that save water; increase the use of renewable energy; and accomplish other sustainability benefits; 2) small-scale water efficiency projects that have been identified through previous planning efforts; 3) collaborative planning and design projects to support water management improvements; and 4) collaboratively developed restoration projects, nature based solutions, water conservation projects, and infrastructure improvement projects with significant ecological benefits.

Applicants must be located in the Western United States or United States Territories specifically: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming (the “17 Western States”), Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico.
Category C Applicants: Nonprofit conservation organizations submitting an application for a project to improve the condition of a natural feature without a category A partner must demonstrate that entities described in Category A in the applicable service area have been notified of the project and do not object.

Category A and B applicants are eligible under all funding opportunities under WaterSMART Grants. Category C applicants are only eligible under the Environmental Water Resources Projects funding opportunity.

Applicants must be located in the Western United States or United States Territories specifically: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming (the “17 Western States”), Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico.

General public, entities with water or power delivery authority, state, county, and local governmental entities, and Tribes located in eligible states and territories previously described in applicant eligibility.
The general public, agricultural, municipal and industrial water users; irrigation or water districts; and state governmental entities with water or power delivery authority, located in the states identified in the Act of June 17, 1902.

The Notice of Funding Opportunity will contain all information regarding application procedures for submitting applications, instructions, and points of contact.

Proposals received in response to the funding opportunity are reviewed through a competitive, merit-based review process, and are rated in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in the funding opportunity. Reclamation will make awards to the highest rated proposals based on the amount of funding available each year. For other awards made under this Assistance Listing using these statutory authorities, the awards may be made competitively or non-competitively.

See Reclamation’s WaterSMART website https://www.usbr.gov/watersmart/
for schedule information.