Contra Costa Water District receives $150,000 WaterSMART grant for efficiency review of its water delivery and treatment system

 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor announced the Contra Costa Water District was awarded a $150,000 grant through the Department of the Interior’s WaterSMART program to complete a system optimization review of the district’s water delivery and treatment system.

"WaterSMART provides numerous tools to assist water providers in making their delivery systems more efficient," said Commissioner Connor. "This system optimization review will provide the necessary information for the Contra Costa Water District to complete a plan of action to improve its water delivery and treatment system in the future."

Contra Costa Water District will study ways to improve the efficiency of its water treatment and delivery system for the district’s municipal customers and will evaluate opportunities for water treatment improvements. The district will identify and prioritize water management issues and will complete computer modeling to quantify benefits of potential improvements to the water supply and water quality throughout the district’s service area as well as the greater San Francisco Bay Area. The system optimization review will be cost-shared between Reclamation and Contra Costa Water District at a total cost of $535,000.

A system optimization review is an assessment focused on improving efficiency and operations of a water delivery system. A plan of action is developed identifying efficiency and operations improvements, including the integration of renewable energy components and other physical or operational improvements.

The recommended improvements may be eligible in the future for Reclamation’s water and energy efficiency grant funding through WaterSMART. These grants fund on-the-ground improvements that improve water management, increase energy efficiency in the delivery of water, and other activities to prevent water-related crisis and conflict.

The WaterSMART program was established in February 2010; the SMART in WaterSMART stands for "Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow." WaterSMART grants are given for water and energy efficiency projects, system optimization reviews, advanced water treatment pilot and demonstration projects, and for the development of climate analysis tools. Learn more about the WaterSMART Program at www.usbr.gov/WaterSMART.