Federal grant programs / Department of the Interior

WaterSMART Water Recycling (15.504)

Also known as Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$942 million
• Grant awards90
• Typical award$4.0 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$473 million
• Size rank267 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants (cooperative agreements)

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $77.4 million in fiscal 2021 to $473 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 267th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 76% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 10 states and territories.

What the program funds

To make funding available for water recycling projects. To develop and supplement urban and irrigation water supplies through water reuse—thereby improving efficiency, providing flexibility during water shortages, and diversifying water supply portfolios. Title XVI of P.L. 102-575, as amended (Title XVI), directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner, to undertake a program to identify and investigate opportunities to reclaim and reuse wastewaters and impaired ground and surface water in the 17 Western States and Hawaii. Title XVI provides authority for the Secretary to provide up to 25 percent of the cost of planning, design, and construction of water recycling projects, currently up to $40 million unless otherwise specified by Congress, as well as up to 50 percent of the cost of feasibility studies. Section 40905 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, P.L. 117-58 provides authority for the Secretary to provide up to 25 percent of the cost of planning, design, and construction of water recycling projects with a total estimate project cost of $500 million or more. Title XVI of P.L. 102-575, as amended (Title XVI), directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner, to undertake a program to identify and investigate opportunities to reclaim and reuse wastewaters and impaired ground and surface water in the 17 Western States and Hawaii. Title XVI provides authority for the Secretary to provide up to 25 percent of the cost of planning, design, and construction of water recycling projects, currently up to $30 million unless otherwise specified by Congress, as well as up to 50 percent of the cost of feasibility studies. The Water Desalination Act of 1996, as amended by P.L. 114-332 provides authority for the Secretary to provide up to 25 percent of the cost of planning, design, and construction of ocean or brackish water desalination facilities.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

• Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse Projects
  Open · Closes August 26, 2027 (299 days left) · up to $40.0 million

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Title XVI Water Reclamation and Reuse: state, regional or local authorities, such as: • States, Tribes, municipalities, irrigation districts, and water districts, or wastewater districts • Other organizations with water or power delivery authority. All applicants must be located in one of the following States or territories: Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands. Large-Scale Water Recycling: • States, Tribes, municipalities, irrigation districts, water districts, wastewater districts; and any state, regional, or other organization with water or power delivery authority, • State, regional, or local authorities, the members of which include one or more organizations with water or power delivery authority; and • An agency established under State law for the joint exercise of powers, or a combination of entities described above. All applicants must be located in the Western United States; specifically: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Reclamation’s WaterSMART Water Recycling Programs provide cost-shared funding on a competitive basis for the planning, design, and construction of water recycling projects.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. For projects funded under the Water Recycling Desalination Planning funding opportunity, a non-federal cost-share of 50% or more of project costs is required. For all other projects funded under this listing, a non-federal cost-share of 75% or more of project costs is required.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

$1,000,000 - $99,000,000 Average=$30,000,000

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2025: Reclamation provided funding to an entity to enhance an existing water reclamation facility’s infrastructure and treatment process to inject recycled water into a local aquifer for future extraction and use. The project will increase and protect the water supply to address drought impacts and provide an effluent disposal option to decrease environmental discharges to a local lake. Components of the project include design and construction of the advanced water purification facility, upgraded water treatment facilities, pump station improvements, wells, and conveyance pipelines to produce 2,000 acre-feet per year of potable water.Fiscal Year2026: Reclamation provided funding to an entity to design and construct a project to produce purified recycled water by diverting tertiary effluent to a new advanced water purification facility that will use microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and an ultraviolet advanced oxidation process. The purified water will then be delivered to spreading grounds to replenish the groundwater basin. The project, once constructed, will reduce dependence on imported water by delivering 20,600 acre?feet per year of recycled water, establishing a new local, and drought tolerant water supply.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 90% of the money.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.