Title
Apply for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation WaterSMART Grants: Water and Energy Efficiency Grants Opportunity for Federal Fiscal Years 2023-24 and 2024-25 (Ordinance S-51614) - Citywide
Description
Request to retroactively authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply for, accept and, if awarded, enter into an agreement for disbursement of federal funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BoR) through the Federal Fiscal Years (FFYs) 2023-24 and 2024-25 WaterSMART Grants: Water and Energy Efficiency Grants (WEEG) opportunity. If awarded, the funding would be used to purchase and install smart irrigation controllers, master valves, flow sensors, and flood irrigation monitoring equipment. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. Funding for the grant opportunity is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The total grant funds applied for will not exceed $500,000, and the City's local match would not exceed $500,000.
Report
Summary
The Parks and Recreation Department (PRD) submitted a grant application to BoR for a WEEG program award. This award would be used to purchase and install smart irrigation controllers, master valves, flow sensors, flood irrigation weirs and monitoring equipment. After two years of the program's operation, PRD projects a savings of 15 to 20 acre-feet of water.
Procurement Information
If awarded, PRD would procure the equipment and work with Salt River Project (SRP) to complete the installation of the equipment.
Contract Term
The anticipated grant program period would have a developmental phase beginning in Spring 2025 and ending in Summer 2025. The installation of the SMART irrigation controllers, master valve, flow sensors, flood irrigation weirs and monitoring equipment would be anticipated to begin Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-26 with work concluding in FY 2026-27. The deadline to utilize the WEEG funds is October 31, 2027.The WEEG submittal deadline was November 13, 2024. If the City Council does not approve this retroactive request, the application will be withdrawn.
Financial Impact
The estimated total cost for the project is approximately $1 million. The maximum federal participation rate is 50 percent, with a minimum local match of 50 percent of the total eligible project cost. If awarded, the federal match would not exceed $500,000 (50 percent) and the City's cost would be approximately $500,000 (50 percent) for the local match.
Funding for the local match is available in the PRD's Capital Improvement Budget. Potential grant funding received is available through the Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, from BoR through the FFYs 2023-24 and 2023-25 WEEG opportunity.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers John Chan and Mario Paniagua, and the Parks and Recreation Department.