Dam Safety and Climate Resilience Local Assistance

Who can apply

NonprofitPublic AgencyTribal Government

To be eligible for DSCR funds, the following conditions must be met:   - The dam must be a California State Jurisdictional Dam.   - The dam must have a downstream hazard classification, as determined by DSOD, of Significant, High,       or Extremely High.   - The dam owner must be in compliance with DSOD’s dam safety program.   - The dam owner must not have any delinquent annual DSOD fees.

Where: Projects must occur in California

Purpose

Senate Bill 122 added Part 4, Section 6700 to the Water Code to create a new program, the Dam Safety and Climate Resilience Local Assistance Program, within DWR for the purpose of providing state funding for repairs, rehabilitation, enhancements, and other dam safety projects at existing state jurisdictional dams and associated facilities that were in service prior to January 1, 2023.

Description

Approximately 10 percent of the 1,236 State jurisdictional dams regulated by DWR’s Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) have been assigned a condition assessment classification of less than “Satisfactory” (e.g., they have noted deficiencies that need remediation). In many cases, these dams pose a significant threat to communities downstream. As an interim risk reduction measure, more than 40 of these dams have had reservoir restrictions imposed. The loss of water storage from these reservoir restrictions is about 350,000 acre-feet. Many dam owners, even those with sources of funding, do not have the ability to secure funding for dam remediation or improvement projects. This program will provide much-needed grant funding for the repair, retrofit, and rehabilitation of these critical infrastructure facilities, reduce the unacceptable risks to the public, and regain lost storage capacity that is needed to face California’s climate-related water shortages.

Important dates

Opened

October 2026

Application deadline

Not yet announced

Expected award announcement

June 2026

Period of performance

2 years

Funding details

Total estimated available

$228,200,000.00

Estimated amount per award

Dependant on number of submissions received, application process, etc.

Expected number of awards

Dependant on number of submissions received, application process, etc.

Letter of intent required

No

Matching funds

50%

Matching notes

Applicants may propose a reduced local cost-share of up to 50% (making the project 0% local cost share) if the project would cause extreme financial hardship to the grant recipient and the dam poses an unacceptable public safety risk.

Funding source

State

Funding source notes

These Guidelines govern the DSCR solicitation using funds authorized by the California Budget Act of 2025 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 6, Sec. 144.) (Budget Act) and funded by the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 (Proposition 4; Public Resources Code, § 90000 et seq.).

Funding method

Advances & Reimbursement(s)

How to apply

Forecast listing. The grantor has announced this program but is not accepting applications yet; it is expected to open October 2026. Use the grantor's update list below to be notified.

Read the full guidelines on the grantor's site, then apply there. Nothing is submitted through this site.

Submission: email: [email protected]

• Grant guidelines & application ↗
• Department of Water Resources ↗
• Original listing on grants.ca.gov ↗

Questions about this grant: name: Taylor Kanaan; email: [email protected]; tel: 1-916-820-7876;