In October 2007, Ecology began accepting pre-applications for its first annual Columbia River Basin Water Management Grant Program.  Grant applications undergo a rigorous vetting and technical review process which includes review by representatives from federal and state agencies, county commissions, tribes, water users, business, and environmental organizations. Successful applicants are awarded grants funded by the Account.

Application Process

Once submitted, OCR evaluates the pre-applications to ensure they meet eligibility criteria including:

• A valid water right must exist if construction funding is requested (a water right is not required for feasibility studies).

• The water right must be “trustable” for conservation projects.

• The project must be consistent with adopted watershed plans.

• Storage projects made possible with funds from the Columbia River Account must be managed 2/3 for out-of-stream and 1/3 for instream in proportion to Columbia River funding.

Successful pre-applicants are then invited to submit an application.

Proposed conservation, small storage, aquifer storage, and operation and maintenance projects are subjected to technical analysis and scoring by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), a committee composed of water resource experts from state, tribal, and local government, conservation districts, and the Salmon Recovery Board (TAG Charter).  Other projects are evaluated internally by Ecology.

Once evaluated and scored, Ecology submits a list of recommended projects for discussion to the Policy Advisory Group, a committee composed of representatives from federal, state, tribal, and local government and agricultural, business, and environmental stakeholder groups.  Selected projects will then be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature for funding. Grants for the 2007 funding cycle will be awarded in July 2009.