Notice of Intent to Award to Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition | BOR LC 17 N009

Opportunity Information: Apply for BOR LC 17 N009

The Notice of Intent to Award to the Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition is a federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, focused on improving agricultural sustainability in Yuma, Arizona, within the Lower Colorado River Basin. The central issue the opportunity addresses is salinity management in irrigated agriculture. In this region, irrigation water naturally contains dissolved salts, and additional salts can move upward into the crop root zone because shallow groundwater rises through fine-textured soils via capillary action. Over time, if salts accumulate where roots are active, crop health and yields can decline, especially for crops that are sensitive to salinity, which are common in the Lower Colorado River Basin.

The opportunity emphasizes that effective salt control typically requires deliberate leaching, meaning farmers must apply some amount of irrigation water beyond what crops strictly consume (beyond consumptive use). This extra water helps flush salts below the root zone so they do not concentrate around plant roots. The grant’s rationale is that, while water conservation is important, there is also an agronomic need for a certain level of excess irrigation to manage salts and avoid yield losses. The project supported under this award would therefore be aimed at better understanding, planning, or implementing water and salt management strategies that maintain productivity while accounting for the region’s salinity conditions and shallow groundwater dynamics.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity with a cooperative agreement as the funding instrument, indicating that the Bureau of Reclamation expects to have substantial involvement in the work rather than simply issuing funds with minimal federal participation. The funding activity category is listed as Environment, and the program is associated with CFDA number 15.560. Eligible applicants are city or township governments, which aligns with the intended recipient named in the title: the Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition, an entity tied to local or regional coordination around agricultural water issues.

Key dates and funding details frame the scope as relatively targeted and limited in scale. The opportunity was created on July 13, 2017, with an original closing date of July 28, 2017, suggesting a short application window consistent with a notice of intent to award to a specific organization rather than an open, highly competitive call. The award ceiling is $100,000, and the Bureau of Reclamation anticipated making one award, reinforcing that this funding was likely designed to support a single, defined project in Yuma County related to managing irrigation, salinity, and the practical requirement for leaching to protect crop yields in the Lower Colorado River Basin.

• The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation in the environment sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent to Award to Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jul 13, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 28, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: City or township governments.

Apply for BOR LC 17 N009

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