Water Desalination Grant Program

Continuous Application Process

DWR implemented the Continuous Application Process, referred to as CAP, in March 2018. CAP uses the same submittal and review process described in the Round 4 Proposal Solicitation Package (PSP). Applications are reviewed and qualified projects will be awarded on a first-ready, first awarded basis until grant funds are exhausted.

Applications are submitted in GRanTS using the same process as Round 4. Applications are screened for eligibility and then reviewed and scored. CAP1 projects, the first group of projects reviewed and scored, were awarded on March 28, 2019. CAP2 projects are currently being reviewed and scored. Release of Draft Funding Recommendations is expected by early May. An online meeting to receive comments will be held within 10 days of issuing the Draft Funding Recommendations. After comment review and possible revision, the Grant Award Notification will be issued. The next group of projects for which applications have been received will be considered CAP3. This process will continue until Proposition 1 funds are awarded.  

Four projects were awarded Desalination Program Grant Funds on March 28, 2019. These projects are:

Grantee	Project Title	Project Type	Approved Grant
West Basin Municipal Water District	C. Marvin Brewer Desalter Facility Improvements Project	Construction	$547,295*
West Basin Municipal Water District	Full-Scale Ocean Water Desalination Facility Environmental Documentation	Environmental Documentation	$500,000
City of Thousand Oaks	Los Robles Golf Course Groundwater Utilization (Phase 1-Feasibility Study)	Feasibility Study	$111,326
City of Simi Valley Water Department	Feasibility Study to Develop the Simi Valley Groundwater Basin as a Potable Resource	Feasibility Study	$144,685
* The remaining funding request in the submitted application for plant modification and new well installation will be revisited after completion of the West Coast Basin Feasibility Study by Water Replenishment District of Southern California, and a funding decision will be made in a subsequent 2019 CAP grant grouping.

 

Project Types for Continuous Applications

Desalination Grants will be funded by Propositions 1 and 50. The 4 types of desalination projects that can be funded are:

• Construction projects generally consists of the design and construction of a full-scale permanent desalination facility and related infrastructure to result in an operable municipal water supply project. A Construction project can include funding for design, but design will not be funded as a stand-alone project. Construction projects that depend upon future phases for an operable facility are not eligible.

• Feasibility Study projects are used to determine the need for a water supply project, to analyze the alternatives to meet the project objective, to determine whether a desalination project is the “preferred alternative”, and if it is, to identify the implementation steps for the project.

• Environmental Documentation projects are stand-alone projects for compliance with CEQA or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) where the basic feasibility study has already been completed and there is a likelihood for initiation of a construction project. As a requirement for funding, the completed portions of the feasibility study must be submitted with the application.

• Design Pilot project is a small-scale prototype for a full-scale project or a full-scale component of a project and is intended to refine design criteria, aid site selection, or study particular technologies or methodologies (conventional or innovative) for the purpose of implementing an already proposed full-scale municipal desalination facility.

 Schedule

Date	Activity/Milestone
February 5, 2018	Desalination Grant public workshop with Continuous Application Process
March 12, 2018	GRanTS open to begin application preparation
March 30, 2018	Begin accepting applications through the Continuous Application Process
December 18, 2018	Release of CAP1 Draft Funding Recommendations
March 28, 2019	Release of CAP1 Grant Awards
Early May 2019	Expected Release of CAP2 Draft Funding Recommendations

Resources

• Notice of Public Meeting and Comment Period on Draft Funding Recommendation Water Desalination Grant Program - Proposition 1 Grants Continuous Application - May 1, 2019

• Presentation on Water Desalination Grant Program Round 4 Draft Funding Recommendation and Continuous Application Process - presented at February 5, 2018 public meeting
• Guidance specific to the Continuous Application Process - this brief document provides additional information for topics such as notifying DWR of the application submittal through GRanTS and how funding recommendation notifications will occur
• Proposal Solicitation Package
  • Round 4 Proposal Solicitation Package - describes the overall application process
  • Errata - provides corrections and clarifications to the PSP.

Application Attachment Templates and Additional Guidance

The completed application will consist of both online submittal and one hard copy to DWR. The on-line Grant Review and Tracking System (GRanTS) has forms and questions that must be completed. In addition, up to 22 additional electronic files are to be provided to DWR as part of the grant application package. Links to the attachments with templates are provided below. For attachments with a provided template, the template is required to be used. The other attachments require the applicant to provide the requested information in files they create or as existing documents. Guidance is also provided below for Attachment 20, Economic Analysis. Templates and guidance are provided for:

• Attachment 1 – Signature Page
• Attachment 2 – Proposal Authorization
• Attachment 3 – Other Participating Organizations
• Attachment 4 – Funding Contributions
• Attachment 10 – Project Budget
• Attachment 11 – Project Schedule
• Attachment 12 – Greenhouse Gas Estimation (Principle Desalination Component only)
• Attachment 13 – Outreach, Community Involvement, and Acceptance
• Attachment 20 – Economic Analysis
  • Guidance for Attachment 20, Economic Analysis (including Narrative Template). Click here.
  • Economic Analysis Computations Template. Click here.
• Attachment 22 – Reduction or Waiver of Cost Share for Disadvantaged Communities or Economically Distressed an Areas.

• Resubmitted Applications – Include the form entitled Status of Attachments Resubmitted under the Continuous Application Process as part of the application when resubmitting an amended proposal previously reviewed under and not yet funded within this Water Desalination Grant Program. See the Application Resubmittal section of the Continuous Application Process Guidance for additional information on resubmittals.

 

End of Continuous Application Process

2017 Grant Funding (Round 4)

On Sept. 1, 2017, DWR received 30 proposals for the Water Desalination Grant Program, Round 4, funded by Proposition 1. The total request for funding was approximately $139 million for the 30 projects, with estimated total project costs of $622.5 million. DWR is awarding funds to nine proposals, for a total of $44.4 million. These projects are in the following table.

Round 4 Draft Funding Awards

Funding Category	Application	Project Title	Total Project Cost	Grant Award
Construction	City of Santa Barbara	Reactivation of the Charles E. Meyer Desalination Plant	$72,000,000	$10,000,000
	South Coast Water District	Doheny Ocean Desalination Phase 1 Project	$107,108,400	$10,000,000
	City of Antioch	City of Antioch Brackish Water Desalination Project	$62,217,732	$10,000,000
	City of Camarillo	North Pleasant Valley Desalter	$31,930,663	$10,000,000
Design Pilot	Eastern Municipal Water District	Enhanced Brine Concentration Design Pilot Project	$5,965,078	$1,500,000
	Olivenhain Municipal Water District	San Dieguito Valley Brackish Groundwater Desalination Design Pilot	$1,340,856	$650,000
Feasibility Study	Indian Wells Valley Water District	Indian Wells Valley (IWV) Brackish Groundwater Feasibility Study	$1,518,389	$1,083,984
	Water Replenishment District of Southern California	Feasibility Study for the West Coast Basin Brackish Water Reclamation Project	$1,400,000	$700,000
Research Pilot	University of Southern California	System Configurations and Cooling Technologies for Waste-Heat-Driven Membrane Distillation in Desalination Applications with High Water Recovery	$1,007,852	$503,490
Total Funding				$44,437,474

                                                                                                    

A public meeting to receive comments on the draft funding recommendations was held on February 5, 2018 at Metropolitan Water District’s headquarters (presentation). Information on this meeting and the Notice of Public Meeting and Comment Period on Draft Funding Recommendation Water Desalination Grant Program Round 4 - Proposition 1 Grants, January 24, 2018, is found here.(pdf)

Round 4 Project Types

This fourth round of grant funding includes funding for 5 types of projects as follows (see the PSP for full descriptions of project types):

• Construction projects generally consists of the design and construction of a full-scale permanent desalination facility and related infrastructure to result in an operable municipal water supply project. A Construction project can include funding for design, but design will not be funded as a stand-alone project. Construction projects that depend upon future phases for an operable facility are not eligible.

• Feasibility Study projects are used to determine the need for a water supply project, to analyze the alternatives to meet the project objective, to determine whether a desalination project is the “preferred alternative”, and if it is, to identify the implementation steps for the project.

• Environmental Documentation projects are stand-alone projects for compliance with CEQA or National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) where the basic feasibility study has already been completed and there is a likelihood for initiation of a construction project. As a requirement for funding, the completed portions of the feasibility study must be submitted with the application.

• Design Pilot project is a small-scale prototype for a full-scale project or a full-scale component of a project and is intended to refine design criteria, aid site selection, or study particular technologies or methodologies (conventional or innovative) for the purpose of implementing an already proposed full-scale municipal desalination facility.

• Research Pilot projects are typically small-scale prototypes for a full-scale device, equipment, process, or other technology and are intended to advance the knowledge base of new desalination technology, related infrastructure, and by-products treatment and disposal.

Schedule

Date	Activity/Milestone
April 3, 2017	Draft PSP posted online
May 8, 2017	Public Workshop for Draft PSP – Southern Region CA
May 9, 2017	Public Workshop for Draft PSP – Central Valley Region CA
May 10, 2017	Public Workshop for Draft PSP – Northern Region CC
May 18, 2017	Comments on Draft PSP Due
June 16, 2017	Final PSP Release
August 1, 2017	Southern CA Public Workshop for Final PSP, Los Angeles
August 3, 2017	Central Coast CA Public Workshop for Final PSP, Monterey
September 1, 2017	Proposals Due, 5 pm PDT.
January 24, 2018	Released Draft Funding Recommendation and Continuous Application Process
February 5, 2018	Conducted public workshop to receive comments on Draft Funding Recommendation and describe the Continuous Application Process
February 16, 2018	Close comment period
March 12, 2018	Release Director’s Final Round 4 Funding Decision
April 2018	Desalination Agreement Negotiations Begin
Spring/Summer 2018	Desalination Agreements Executed

 

 Application Attachment Templates and Additional Guidance

The completed application consisted of both an online submittal and one hard copy to DWR. The on-line Grant Review and Tracking System (GRanTS) had forms and questions that needed to be completed. In addition, up to 22 additional electronic files were provided to DWR as part of the grant application package. Links to the attachments with templates are provided below. For attachments with a provided template, the template was required to be used. The other attachments required the applicant to provide the requested information in files they created or had as existing documents. Guidance is also provided below for Attachment 20, Economic Analysis. Templates and guidance are provided for:

• Attachment 1 – Signature Page
• Attachment 2 – Proposal Authorization
• Attachment 3 – Other Participating Organizations
• Attachment 4 – Funding Contributions
• Attachment 10 – Project Budget
• Attachment 11 – Project Schedule
• Attachment 12 – Greenhouse Gas Estimation (Principle Desalination Component only)
• Attachment 13 – Outreach, Community Involvement, and Acceptance
• Attachment 20 – Economic Analysis
  • Guidance for Attachment 20, Economic Analysis (including Narrative Template). Click here.
  • Economic Analysis Computations Template. Click here.
• Attachment 22 – Reduction or Waiver of Cost Share for Disadvantaged Communities or Economically Distressed Areas.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Additional information on various topics and issues in the form of questions & answers. FAQs may be down loaded here. (DOC), (PDF).

State Funding Agreement (FA) Sample

A sample funding agreement has been provided for review here (DOC), (PDF). The actual agreement for Round 4 or subsequent funding may differ.

Proposal Solicitation Package (PSP)

The draft guidelines for conducting the Round 4 grant solicitation were contained in the Public Review Draft of the Round 4 Proposal Solicitation Package. The PSP contains detailed grant funding program information, including eligibility, application submittal process, review and award process, and program guidelines and requirements.

Final PSP. The final Round 4 PSP was adopted on June 16, 2017.

    Final PSP, click (PDF), (DOC)

Draft PSP. The Public Review Draft was available for public comment April 3 through May 18, 2017. DWR accepted comments in writing and at public workshops.

    Public Review Draft PSP, click (PDF), (DOC)

 

End of 2017 Grant Funding (Round 4)