Funding Wizard

Through WaterSMART Water Marketing Strategy Grants, Reclamation provides cost-shared financial assistance to States, Indian tribes, and local governments to develop water marketing strategies to establish or expand water markets or water marketing activities between willing participants, in compliance with state and Federal laws. Water Marketing Strategy Grants are a component of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Grants Program, which also includes Water and Energy Efficiency Grants and Small-Scale Water Efficiency Projects. For further information on the WaterSMART Grants Program, please see www.usbr.gov/watersmart/index.html. The objective of this NOFO is to invite States, Indian tribes, irrigation districts, water districts, and other organizations with water or power delivery authority to leverage their money and resources by cost sharing with Reclamation to develop a water marketing strategy to increase water supply reliability. Applicants under this NOFO may request funding to develop a water marketing strategy (project) to establish or expand water markets or water marketing activities. A “water marketing strategy” is a framework for implementation of water marketing activities. Development of a water marketing strategy must include: (1) Outreach and partnership building; (2) Scoping and planning activities (e.g., hydrologic, economic, legal and other types of analysis); and (3) Development of a water marketing strategy document describing how water marketing activities will be implemented. For the purposes of this NOFO, “water marketing” refers to water rights transactions (e.g., the voluntary lease, sale, or exchange of water or water rights), or voluntary agreements governing water rights, water use, or water management (e.g., non-diversion agreements, dry-year options, and agreements governing groundwater recharge and storage), undertaken in accordance with State and Federal laws, between willing participants.