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I GRANTS AND LOANS The The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) provides grants for up to 25 percent of the cost for the planning, design and construction of qualified water recycling projects under its Title 16 program, formally known as the 1992 Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act. Since 1992, Congress has appropriated more than $100 million to the Title 16 program. The Bureau was authorized by the act to fund several reclamation projects in Caiifornia and Arizona. When Title 16 was amended in 1996, 16 additional recycling projects as well as two desalination demonstration projects received authorization for funding. A $20 million dollar cap also was placed on federal contributions for those projects authorized for funding in 1996. - Metropolitan areas in southern California, like Los Angeles, import !wo.thirds of their \J..'afer supply from outside the region. 14 Two low-interest loan programs can be tapped into to help finance water recycling facilities: the State Revolving Fund Loan Program (SRF) and the Water Recycling Loan Program (WRLP). Both programs are adminislered by the State Board which has provided more than $175 million in loans for water recycling since 1984. The SRF provides low-interest loans (half the interest rate of general obligation bonds) to qualifying agencies for the planning, design and construction of municipal wastewater treatment works, including water recycling. The federal government malches the state funds on a five-to- one basis. The WRLp, adminislered by the State Board's Oltice of Water Recycling (OWR), provides low-interest loans from state bonds for the design and construction of water recycling projects. The OWR also administers a program providing planning grants up to $75,000 for water recycling studies. I Both stale and federal funding has been instrumental in getting California water recycling projects oH the ground. Monterey County was given an $8.8 million loan from the SRF for its $34 million tertiary plant and will receive $52 million over an eight.year period from the Bureau for its recycling facility and distribu- tion system. The SRF funded 75 percent of the East Bay Municipal Utility District's (EBMUD) $33 million reclamation plant which sends advanced tertiary treated water to Chevron refineries. In 1996, the state received funding for water recy- cling wilh the passage of Proposition 204, the Safe, Clean, Reliable Water Supply Act. The State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) received $140 million - $60 million of which was appropri- ated to the WRLP for recycling projects and $80 million to the SRF for sewage treatment plants. The $60 million will provide low-interest loans for design and construction, and grants for facility planning and studies. The SRF funds will be matched with $400 million of federal CWA appropriations. In addition, $10 million was appropriated to DWR for feasibility studies, some of which will go to regional water recycling studies. Funding for recycling programs is given from other sources as well. MWD, the state's largest urban water wholesaler and supplier of about 1.8 million acre- feet of water annually, provides financial assistance to water recycling projects that reduce demand on MWD's imported water supply. The district gives member agencies up to $250 an acre-foot to make up the diHerence between the more costly recycled water and MWD's imported water rates. The qualily- ing projects have produced over 275.000 acre-feet of recycled water since 1981 for landscape and agricultural irrigation, industrial uses and as a barrier to sea water intrusion. As of 1997, the assistance program produced 50,000 acre-feet of recycled water a year and is estimated to produce 190,000 acre- feet of recycled water annually with the development of more than 40 new projects.