• Water is Life projects help to expand water, sanitation and hygiene services at the community level in Arizona with a prioritization given to projects focused on the Navajo Nation.
• Projects that are creative, community-led, and long-lasting are preferred. Each project must measurably improve access to water, sanitation, and/or hygiene for the target recipients. The focus must be on human needs, livestock and agricultural water projects are not eligible. If applying on behalf of an organization, the organization must have an annual operating budget of less than $3 million.
• Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Decisions will be made in June and November. To find more, visit their website or contact Dig Deep at [email protected] and (424) 285-0773.

• The Water Supply Development Revolving Fund (WSDRF) was created to provide low-cost financing, grants, and technical assistance for water supply development projects outside of Arizona’s major urban centers. This fund is specifically designed to meet the unique water supply needs of small, rural communities.
• WIFA can provide up to $2 million in grant funding and up to $3 million in the form of a low-interest loan for a total of $5 million in financial assistance per application.
• Interest rate discounts and grant eligibility will be determined based on the criteria listed in ARS § 49-1274(B)(3), including:
  • Water Demands: existing, near-term and long-term water demands compared to the volume and reliability of existing water supplies
  • Project Benefits:impact on water supply, benefits to multiple jurisdictions, conservation efforts, BMPs being implemented, and long-term reliability of supply being developed
  • Project Feasibility:engineering specs, the cost and effectiveness of the proposal, funding sources, and public comment
  • Financial Need:median household income
• Eligible Entities: Water providers and political subdivisions located outside of the Phoenix, Tucson, or Pinal AMAs.
• Applications currently being accepted.

Grant funds may be used to connect service lines to a residence, pay utility hook-up fees, install plumbing and related fixtures, e.g., bathroom sink, bathtub or shower, commode, kitchen sink, water heater, outside spigot, or bathroom.

Applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Own and occupy a dwelling located in a colonia (Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas) and have evidence of ownership.
• Have a total taxable income (based on the latest federal income tax form from all individuals residing in the household) that is below the most recent poverty. income guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Have no delinquencies on any federal debt.

Applications for this program are accepted year round. Please apply through your local Rural Development office.

• Being climate-smart means recognizing that we are living in drier and hotter times and producing food using less water. The Arizona Climate-Smart Practices Program is a pilot program designed by Arizona’s Conservation Districts, AACD, and diverse partner groups to encourage growers in Arizona to adopt climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices that will allow for abundant agriculture while using practices that conserve water, promote healthy soil, and mitigate climate change providing beneficial ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration. The Program also emphasizes cross-cultural knowledge sharing between Native American producers and other participants.
• Producers who participate in the program will receive grant funds to help implement climate-smart practices that reduce pesticide and fertilizer inputs, reduce tillage, use diverse cover crops, rest pastures, and use rotational grazing on farms and ranches, and climate-smart commodities will be marketed through partnership networks.
• Annual Incentive of $11,000, + Marketing assistance for desert-adapted crops.

 More Information or Apply Here for the Climate-Smart Program

The primary objective of this program is to provide design and construction assistance to non-federal sponsor interests for carrying out water-related environmental infrastructure and resource protection and development projects in Arizona and rural Nevada.

• Projects may include wastewater treatment and related facilities, water supply, and related facilities, environmental restoration, and surface water resource protection and development.
• The program holds an open house to answer questions to potential applicants every second Tuesday of each month, at 1 PM Arizona time. The link to the open house can be found here.

The Creating Resilient Water Utilities (CRWU) Initiative provides drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities with practical tools, training, and technical assistance to increase system resilience to climate change impacts. CRWU primarily provides technical support for applying climate and asset condition data as part of risk assessment, as well as support for climate adaptation planning. CRWU also conducts workshops, training, and webinars for information sharing and education purposes.

Exercises with individual utilities and communities help establish utility partners and build adaptation planning experience that can be shared with others. The information collected through these exercises can inform effective management, hazard mitigation, capital investment planning, and upgrades of critical facilities.
 

NADBank offers grants to support the implementation of critical environmental infrastructure projects for economically distressed communities in the U.S.-Mexico border region. All projects must be located within 62 miles of the southern border in the state of Arizona.

Projects are available three  project sectors are:

• Drinking Water: Projects that support access to sustainable and safe drinking water, including supply, treatment, transmission, storage, distribution, metering, conservation and point-of-use technologies.
• Wastewater: Projects that help eliminate exposure to unsanitary water conditions, including service connections/on-site systems, collection, conveyance, treatment and reuse.
• Storm water: Projects that support adequate storm water management, including piped systems, retention basins, culverts, canals, berms, erosion control, flow velocity control and green infrastructure.
   

NADBank provides direct financing to public and private entities for the implementation of environmental infrastructure projects located within the U.S.-Mexico border region. It also offers a variety of financial services to support border communities and other sponsors in developing sustainable projects with sound financial structures.

Financing may be provided in a number of ways, including:

• Direct loans: Term, bridge, A/B, etc.
• Revolving lines of credit
• Participation in municipal bond issues

Additionally, NADBank may act as the sole lender or co-finance projects with other public or private financiers, depending upon the characteristics and financing needs of the project. NADBank cannot finance more than 85 percent of the eligible costs of a project. Funding from other sources in the form of equity contributions, subordinated loans, grants or co-financing is required.
 

NADBank offers technical assistance to help border communities and other project sponsors develop environmental infrastructure projects for financing and implementation, as well as to strengthen their financial performance and reinforce the long-term sustainability of their projects. 

• Project development assistance grants are available to project sponsors who are applying for infrastructure financing from NADBank.
• Technical assistance is only available to support the development of projects located within the geographic jurisdiction of NADBank.

The Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF), for project implementation, and the Project Development Assistance Program (PDAP), for project development, are grant programs funded by the U.S. Congress through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and administered by NADBank.

This program offers grant financing exclusively for the implementation of high-priority municipal drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects located within 100 kilometers of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Applications are received throughout the year and are evaluated periodically for placement within the ranked project application list. As additional BEIF funding becomes available, new projects will be selected and incorporated into the development pipeline.