3 Important Drought Relief Funding Meetings
On March 1, 2014, Governor Brown signed legislation to assist drought-affected communities and provide funding to better use local water supplies.
$200 million will be made available statewide in Proposition 84 IRWM (Integrated Regional Water Management) funding in an expedited grant process. This process is rolling out very fast, and the Watersheds Coalition of Ventura County (WCVC) and partners are making information available locally as quickly as possible in order to help secure some of this funding for our area. (With just $200 million available statewide, the process will be very competitive.)
At the April 16th meeting of the Calleguas Creek Watershed Steering Committee, Kristine McCaffrey, grant application manager for previous IRWM Implementation Grant applications, will be presenting important information about the application process. The WCVC is urging all Ventura County project proponents interested in this funding to attend this meeting. The meeting will be held at 10:00 am at Calleguas Municipal Water District, 2100 Olsen Rd in Thousand Oaks.
Although an expedited process will be involved with this funding, it is important for those unfamiliar with the IRWM grant process to know that this is not “easy” money. Projects less than $500,000 are hard to justify because of the expense of the application process. Applicants must contribute toward the preparation of a countywide grant proposal package, which at minimum costs about $10,000, but could cost considerably more than this depending upon the number of applicants and other factors. Also, grant funds are provided on a reimbursement basis, and applicants must be prepared to wait 6 to 18 months before being reimbursed.
This particular funding is aimed at drought relief, including projects and programs that:
- Provide immediate regional drought preparedness
- Increase local water supply reliability and the delivery of safe drinking water
- Assist water suppliers and regions to implement conservation programs and measures that are not locally cost-effective
- Reduce water quality conflicts or ecosystem conflicts created by the drought
The draft guidelines and proposal solicitation package (PSP) for the drought grant can be found here: http://www.water.ca.gov/irwm/grants/
In an email sent today from Sue Hughes, Deputy Executive Officer with the County of Ventura’s CEO Government Affairs office, the general process and timeline were outlined:
“We will follow our adopted process for project selection; each of the three watershed committees will consider possible projects to include in the grant application, followed by development of a recommendation for a suite of projects by the WCVC Steering Committee, and then a final vote by the General Membership. Work on the application will begin in May in order to meet the proposed deadlines in the Guidelines and PSP. Please read both documents these carefully!”
There will be a WCVC Steering Committee meeting followed by a General Membership meeting on Monday May 12 at 9:30 am to take action on the proposed suite of projects for this drought grant solicitation.
The Ventura River Watershed Council must meet in advance of the WCVC meeting in order to approve the projects to submit from our watershed. Therefore a Watershed Council meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, May 8, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon in the Topping Room of the EP Foster Library, 651 E. Main Street, Ventura. All potential project applications should make me aware of their potential project as soon as possible.
More information will be made available as this process unfolds.