After four months of continuous effort, Borrego Water District (BWD) with assistance from its Consultants, the Community and Water Master (WM) have submitted a Grant application for almost $6 million to the State of California in the latest round of Proposition 68 Grants intended for Groundwater Sustainability implementation projects and studies. BWD would like to thank all of those who participated in the Project Review Committee (PRC) Process, submitted Grant Project ideas, or observed. Long weekends with significant homework was common for the PRC members.

The combined Projects in the Final Spending Plan benefit a wide array of Organizations in Borrego Springs and will provide much needed improvements or information assisting with Basin sustainability or its direct impacts. Due to some last-minute Project eliminations by DWR, the final Project list selected and the overall Grant amounts were not what was expected. Unfortunately for BWD, Solar installation was deemed to be not consistent with sustainability implementation. Furthermore, from the beginning of the process, much needed water right acquisition and pipeline replacement funding were ineligible in this Grant. BWD will be aggressively pursuing Federal and State Grant for these purposes using experts in the field with specific focus of the Board and its Committees.

In terms of the overall amount, the total is less than the possible $7.6M available, which is due to the limited time to resubmit the Project List to DWR. There was not enough time to convene the PRC plus BWD and WM Boards. Therefore, any changes to the work performed by the PRC would have required unilateral action by the BWD Board and to do so would dishonor the work performed by the PRC. In addition, to create Projects just because the money is available questions the integrity of the entire process. Combined with BWD Grants of $800K for wastewater treatment plant renovation and $2.1 million for water reservoir replacement, BWD and the Basin will be receiving almost $9M, which is a success by any measure.