Department of Water Resources Releases Draft Guidelines for LandFlex Program

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released draft guidelines for the LandFlex Program (LandFlex) which will distribute $25m in block grants to local government agencies who then offer grants to growers in critically overdrafted basins and near vulnerable drinking water wells to limit agricultural water use.

Funding and Eligible Costs

DWR was appropriated $25m in the 2022-2023 State Budget to administer LandFlex. DWR has reapportioned $1.24m for program administration and $460,000 for technical assistance provider (TAP) contracts. The remaining $23.3m will be available in the grant program. DWR anticipates awarding 2-3 grants at $7.7m to $11.6m. They expect to begin accepting applications from January 17 until February 3 and will be seeking to execute contracts in March/April 2023.

Program Responsibilities

Grant awardees are required to demonstrate a measurable goal of water savings for the groundwater basin and accelerate Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) sustainable yield targets. Water savings should be applied consistently across fallowed lands by maintaining a general accounting of water in the basin and using state-sponsored mapping tools. Grant awardees are also responsible for coordinating with technical assistance providers, reviewing and scoring applications, and monitoring and reporting to DWR three years following award. Technical assistance providers are required to outreach to growers, provide an application portal for grower applicants and conduct completeness reviews of applications.

Eligibility Requirements and Criteria

A. Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must be a groundwater sustainability agency (GSA) or an agency approved as an Alternative and represents a critically overdrafted basin. They must have a groundwater (GW) allocation plan (that includes a quantified volume of overdraft pumping) currently being implemented and have a remote sensed evapotranspiration (ET) accounting method of water data from 2022 (October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022). Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Completion of an Agricultural Water Management Plan and adoption of an Urban Water Management Plan to DWR by July 1, 2016;
  • Compliance with the CA Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM)[1], Groundwater management requirements (such as approved GSP, approved alternative or a Groundwater Management Plan[2]), surface water reporting requirements, Stormwater Resource Plans (or functional equivalent), and water metering requirements and sustainable water uses and demand reductions for urban water suppliers;
  • Consistency with the Delta Plan if in the SJ-Sacramento area (if a “covered action,” must obtain a Certification of Consistency);
  • Demonstrate how projects address climate change risk (such as water supply, infrastructure, greenhouse gases, and carbon sequestration) and commit to open and transparent water data sharing;
  • Projects by public utilities or mutual water companies must have public benefit; and
  • Authorizing Resolution.

Applicants are also required to follow general state contracting requirements, including but not limited to conflict-of-interest declarations, confidentiality[3], labor requirements, CEQA compliance, competitive bidding, and indemnity requirement.

B. Scoring Criteria
The following items will be used to score and rank proposals in addition to the eligibility criteria:[4]

  • Dry Wells — total number of high-density sections of domestic wells going dry, number of wells susceptible to running dry, and reported dry wells within the past 24 months in GSA boundary (up to 45 POINTS)
  • Communication and engagement plan (up to 10 POINTS)
  • Fallowing plan — does applicant plan identify the use of cover crops, regenerative or indigenous farming, or similar methods to manage air/water quality (up to 10 POINTS)
  • Multibenefit reporting — identify and quantify additional benefits and have proposed monitoring activities (10 POINTS)

Grower Requirements

Grant recipients are required to implement the following eligibility requirements for growers receiving funding and score grower applicants based on the following criteria:

A. Grower Eligibility
To be eligible, a farmer must have proof of farmed acreage, generate less than or equal to $2.5m in annual adjusted gross income, a lease (if applicable), and agree to fallow their land through the current water year (ending September 30, 2023). Farmers are not eligible to enroll greater than 25% of their total acreage at a time, though small farms may enroll in 40 acres, regardless of its percentage relative to the total acreage. Farmers may not receive greater than $2.5m in awarded funds. Farmers must also provide the local average estimate of ET by crop, as provided by the GSA, and agree to permanently eliminate their GW pumping overdraft allocations above sustainable yield.

B. Grower Grant Criteria (minimum)
Grower participants will be scored based on their proximity to dry, shallow, domestic wells as reported in the last 24 months and their proximity to under resourced communities. Both criteria can be up to 30 points.

C. Incentive Payments and Grant Award Caps
There are three components related to incentive payments:

  • Domestic well drought relief — $450/acre-foot of water kept in GW basin through remainder of 2023 water year.
  • Sustainable yield acceleration — One-time payment of $750/acre-foot of annual overdraft eliminated. All overdraft allocations associated with enrolled acreage during the 2023 water year must be permanently eliminated, but GSA determined sustainable yield allocation will remain unaffected.
  • Transition to sustainability — One-time land-use transition payment that varies based on use of enrolled acreage (row crop, forage, permanent, etc.). Removal and mulching of orchards, byproduct use for dairy feed replacement and cover cropping are examples of eligible payments.
    • Row Crop — up to $250/acre
    • Dairy Feed Replacement — up to $2,000/acre
    • Permanent Orchard & Vine Removal — up to $2,800/acre

View Update

[1] Note: if the entire service area of the GSA or alternate is in a DAC, program may be eligible notwithstanding CASGEM.
[2] (1) Conform to the requirements of an adjudication of water rights in the basin; (2) Plan must have been adopted before January 1, 2015 or Alternative; (3) Participate in a GW management plan, basin-wide management plan, or Integrated Regional Water Management Program; or (4) Commit to participate within 1 year of grant application submission if low or very low GW basin.
[3] Note: location of fallowed projects will be available to the public.
[4] Scoring criteria can be found on page 22 of the draft guidelines.

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