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ActiveDepartment of Water Resources · 2026

Small Community Drought Relief Program

Quick Facts

Agency: Department of Water Resources
Funding: Dependent
Deadline: Check Source
Status: Active
Eligibility: Nonprofits, public agencies, tribal governments, and other eligible entities in small communities not supplied by urban water suppliers.

About This Grant

Small Community Drought Relief Program is sponsored by Department of Water Resources. Offers immediate and near-term financial and technical support to help small communities survive droughts.

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Official Opportunity Details

Extracted from the official opportunity page/RFP to help you evaluate fit faster.

Small Community Drought Relief Small Community Drought Relief Small Community Drought Relief Backflow prevention devices and piping from the main pipeline are installed for residential homes in East Porterville, California.

The Small Community Drought Relief Program (Program) is one of the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR's) Drought Relief Grant Programs that offers immediate and near-term financial and technical assistance to small communities facing water supply challenges because of the current drought. The Program was authorized by the Legislature pursuant to the Budget Act of 2021 and as amended in 2022 (Stats. 2022, ch.

44, § 25). Of the $200 million allocated under Budget 2021 for the Program, a total of $185 million in funding was made available for grants for eligible projects. This funding has already been committed to 89 projects.

In addition, another $5 million was made available for the county drought resilience planning program that intends to help the counties to establish standing drought task forces or to develop the county drought resilience plans, per Senate Bill 552. See the application instructions for DWR’s county drought resilience planning program below under “Resources”.

Under Budget 2022, another $95 million was made available to continue the Program and $20 million was made available to initiate a tank program. The tank program intends to provide household water storage tanks and hauled water for California residents whose wells have gone dry due to the ongoing drought. For more information on DWR’s tank program, see the program flyer .

DWR continues accepting applications for eligible projects on a non-competitive first-come, first-served basis and may prioritize urgent/emergency applications. DWR announced the first batch of funding on August 11, 2021 . The list of awarded projects and map of funding locations can be found in the Funded Projects link under Drought Related Pages on the top right-hand side of this page.

Eligible projects must be designed to provide interim or immediate relief to small communities that are not served by an Urban Water Supplier (i.e., UWS is a supplier, either publicly or privately owned, providing water for municipal purposes either directly or indirectly to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre-feet of water annually).

The Small Community Drought Relief Program funds projects that: Provide reliable water supply sources Improve water system storage Replace aging and leaking water system infrastructure Provide backup power sources for water systems.

The Small Community Drought Relief Program can also provide funding for temporary solutions: Temporary community water tanks Emergency water interties There will be no formal proposal solicitation for this Program. Small communities impacted by the drought are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Applications for funding will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until all the funds are awarded, or until December 29, 2023, whichever comes first. No application will be accepted after December 29, 2023. Further details are provided in the Guidelines .

All applicants are encouraged to submit their applications electronically to SmallCommunityDrought@water. ca. gov .

Hard copy application packages can be submitted to: California Department of Water Resources Division of Regional Assistance South Central Region Office 691 N. Laverne Avenue, Suite 104 For questions regarding the Small Community Drought Relief Program, please contact (916) 803-9251 or by email at SmallCommunityDrought@water. ca.

gov .

County Drought Resilience Planning Assistance DWR’s Related Drought Preparedness Work Assembly Bill 1668 (Friedman) , passed into law in 2018, directed DWR to do the following: Identify small water systems and rural communities at risk of drought and water shortage vulnerability Develop recommendations for improving drought contingency planning for those areas DWR, in coordination with multiple state agencies and vetted through an extensive stakeholder process, developed recommendations that would allow small water suppliers and rural communities to meet their drought and water shortage planning needs.

The report is published in two parts: Part I deals with drought and water shortage contingency planning recommendations, and Part II presents a methodology of drought and water shortage vulnerability assessment and risk scoring.

Part 1: Recommendations for Drought and Water Shortage Contingency Plans Part 2: Drought and Water Shortage Vulnerability Assessment and Risk Scoring 2021 Urban and Multibenefit Drought Relief 2022 Urban Community Drought Relief View DWR's Forecasted Grants The federal grants portal provides an efficient way to search for federal grants, a learning center, applicant resources, and other helpful information.

The California Financing Coordinating Committee (CFCC) combines the resources of State and Federal funding agencies to provide a one-stop shop for information on available grants, loans and bond financing for infrastructure projects.

Since 1998, the CFCC has conducted free funding fairs each year to educate the public and offer potential customers the opportunity to meet with financial representatives from each agency and learn more about their currently available funding programs . Water Education Materials Visit Natural Resources Website Department of Water Resources Visit Director Profile Page

Eligibility Requirements

Nonprofits, public agencies, tribal governments, and other eligible entities in small communities not supplied by urban water suppliers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can apply for Small Community Drought Relief Program?

According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Nonprofits, public agencies, tribal governments, and other eligible entities in small communities not supplied by urban water suppliers. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.

Who funds Small Community Drought Relief Program?

Small Community Drought Relief Program is funded by Department of Water Resources. Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.

How do I apply for Small Community Drought Relief Program?

Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.

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Flood Partnership: Real-time Data Grant Program is sponsored by Department of Water Resources. The Real-time Data Grant Program was created to help fund projects to fill a gap in our current flood warning system. This grant program will fund additional real-time telemetry of reservoir elevations at dams with ungated spillways. This will provide important information to forecasters, flood emergency responders, and communities downstream of these dams with ungated spillways during periods of heavy precipitation. The need to improve public safety and achieve other benefits through integrated flood management is urgent due to more people living and working in flood-prone areas, better understanding of system deficiencies, and possible changes in flood magnitude and frequency from a changing climate. In 2018, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) launched the Flood Partnership, in collaboration with the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Flood Partnership is intended to reduce the risk and consequences of flooding in California by strengthening the collaboration, data sharing, and funding resources that are already in place; and by identifying and addressing unmet needs. As part of the Flood Partnership, California began the long process of improving the coordination and alignment of federal, State, and local agencies in planning for and responding to flood emergencies, on a watershed-by-watershed basis. To encourage this increased level of coordination and alignment, DWR has set up funding programs to support this effort. DWR is also planning on assisting other agencies in identifying other non-DWR sponsored grant and funding assistance programs and assisting in obtaining funding assistance from those programs. Program Directed Activities DWR will use program funds for Direct Expenditures or Directed Action activities that fulfill the intent of the funding source used. Direct expenditure projects are proposed by DWR either on its own initiative or in response to a solicitation from a California public agency. DWR will apply these guidelines as it deems applicable and appropriate. Direct expenditure projects must address an interest of the State and may be proposed and approved at any time. Grant Eligibility California public agencies that own or have primary responsibility for a dam under the jurisdiction of the Division of Safety of Dams are eligible to apply. Public agencies include counties, cities, water districts, flood control districts, irrigation districts, municipal utility districts, service districts, Joint Power Authorities, or other local government entities in California. The geographic scope of this grant is statewide. Eligible Grant Activities and Tasks This is a direct Grant Program designed to achieve the objective and goals of the Flood Safety Partnership. The typical activities funded under the first round of this Grant Program include: • Purchase and installation of equipment needed for collecting, storing, transmitting, and sharing of real-time reservoir elevation data with the California Data Exchange Center (CDEC). Specifications and standards for real-time data collection will be included in the final Grant Guideline.• Purchase and installation of equipment needed for collecting, storing, transmitting, and sharing of real-time hydro-meteorological data with CDEC.

Dependant on number of submissions received, application process, etc.Deadline: Rolling

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