Funding Assistance

Update on the Fiscal Year 2010 SFWMD Alternative Water Supply Funding Program:

The South Florida Water Management District (District) appreciates your interest in the District's Alternative Water Supply Funding Program. The District's grant program has been promoting and funding alternative water supply projects since 1996 and has funded the construction of more than 400 alternative water supply projects since that time.

Governments at all levels continue to face extremely challenging economic conditions.  The District is expecting a 12 percent reduction in ad valorem revenue for FY 2010 compared to FY 2009, which equates to a $66 million budget reduction. 

As a result of the economic conditions, the State has not allocated funding for AWS projects in its FY 2010 budget.  Other than dedicated State appropriations and the District match, no additional AWS funding is proposed in the District’s FY 2010 preliminary budget.  Consequently, the District will not be accepting applications for AWS funding for FY 2010.

The District appreciates your organization’s support of alternative water sources.  As the economy improves and funds are allocated for the AWS Program in the future, the District anticipates accepting applications for projects.  Information and updates regarding the program will be posted on this website.  If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Patrick Martin, AWS Coordinator, at (561) 682-2176 or at pmartin@sfwmd.gov.

Alternative Water Supply Funding Program

The Water Protection and Sustainability Program requires that potential projects for funding be identified in each water management district's Regional Water Supply Plans, which are updated every five years. Funding for projects will be applied annually, and projects can be funded in phases.  However, no guarantee is made from year-to-year to fund particular projects.

Water Supply Plans can be found here or by clicking on the appropriate region in the left side bar.  Click on the "Documents" tab, and then scroll to the appropriate appendix. The list of projects can be found in Appendix A of the Lower East Coast, Lower West Coast, and Kissimmee Basin plans and in Appendix F of the Upper East Coast plan.

AWS Projects

Past Alternative Water Supply Grants

Alternative Water Supply Grant Schedule and Application

Funding for FY2010 has been postponed until further notice. For utilities, commodity groups, SFWMD permit holders and others, e-mails announcing the application's availability will be sent.  The application will be an electronic file and found below. However it must be submitted in hard copy and electronic format.

Applications become available in March and must be submitted by June 1. Selections are made by August 31 with the District Governing Board approving the list by the end of October. Successful applicants are notified of their grant awards shortly thereafter.

Application Assistance

In order for grant applications to be considered for funding, the applications must be complete and understandable to reviewers.  Because this is a very large program with many annual applications, statements of work and deliverable schedules must be clear, and in a form that can be conveniently attached to a District contract. In order to assist with this, the following links are provided, showing sample statements of work and deliverable schedules for several different types of projects.

If more help is required, feel free to contact Jane Bucca at (561) 682-6791, jbucca@sfwmd.gov for questions regarding the funding program, dates and deadlines, or the Water Protection and Sustainability Program legislation.

Funding Guidelines

The SFWMD Governing Board has approved guidelines for funding for specific categories of alternative water supply projects. Other categories not shown will be funded up to 40% of construction costs. Funding may be limited annually depending on participation.  The guidelines provide funding scenarios based on the type of alternative water supply technology used, eligible construction costs, i.e., constructing infrastructure for alternative water supplies; and previous funding applied to a particular project.  The SFWMD Governing Board makes the final funding determination for all projects.

Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI)

The following are the counties and municipalities within the South Florida Water Managment District that have qualified for the REDI status: Glades County, Hendry County, Highlands County, Okeechobee County, City of Pahokee (Palm Beach County), City of Belle Glade (Palm Beach County), City of South Bay (Palm Beach County), and Immokalee Area (Collier County).

AWS Funding Program Links:

Contact Information: