In December, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report reviewing the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Title XVI program. The program provides grant funding for the planning, design, and construction of water recycling and reuse projects in partnership with local government entities in the 17 Western states and Hawaii.
The 53-page report, describes the types and locations for grants that Reclamation has awarded for projects and studies between FY 1992 and 2017, as well as projects that remain eligible for grants. Reclamation’s process for selecting projects and studies is also provided, and GAO details how the evaluation criteria for the program has changed since 2011.
Since the inception of the Title XVI program, Reclamation has awarded Title XVI grants to construction projects that cumulatively provided nearly 390,000 acre-feet of reused water in 2017. These construction projects are generally large-scale infrastructure projects, such as water reuse treatment plants and pipelines, that produce, store, and distribute reused water for irrigation, habitat restoration, and potable and nonpotable use.
The report notes that the Title XVI grant program supports diverse programs and is managed in a manner consistent with the law and federal regulations. GAO states that from FY 1992 through 2017, 90 percent of the $640 million in Title XVI awarded went to projects in California. Most of these projects were construction projects aimed at reducing the reliance of Southern California on the Colorado River for water supply.
In general there has been a high level of interest in the program in California, although during the FY 1992-2017 time period, grant funding was awarded for research studies, feasibility studies and construction projects in 12 of the 17 states.