Equus Beds Division Acquifer Storage Recharge

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation funds the design, construction, and operation of the City of Wichita's Aquifer Storage and Recovery project in the Equus Beds Aquifer under CFDA 15.539, with the most recent grant award issued on June 28, 2023.

The program supports a single, congressionally authorized project: diverting flood flows from the Little Arkansas River into the Equus Beds Aquifer to recover depleted storage and protect the aquifer. The Missouri Basin Regional Office approves all awards and distributions. Authorization under P.L. 109-299 originally ran ten years and expired in 2016; P.L. 116-9 extended authorization to 20 years, ending in 2026. Project construction could not begin until Reclamation completed NEPA compliance (EIS), which was completed on January 19, 2010. The scope of work must be responsive to the authorizing legislation, the final engineering report, and the appropriation ceiling.

The program has disbursed three awards totaling $26.6 million in federal dollars obligated since 2008 (combined total obligation of $42.5 million including non-federal cost share). Awards show an irregular cadence: one in 2008, one in 2021, and one in 2023. The assistance-type mix is predominantly Cooperative Agreements (67 percent) with a smaller share of Project Grants (33 percent). The Bureau of Reclamation is the sole funding agency.

Recent awards funded aquifer recharge infrastructure components including recharge and recovery wells, pipelines, powerlines, overhead, and process control and SCADA implementation. The June 2023 Project Grant (R23AP00197) for $21,229,510.92 reimbursed work completed under an earlier 2008 agreement, with the City of Wichita bearing a 75 percent cost share and the federal government providing 25 percent. The October 2021 Cooperative Agreement (R21AC10494) for $21,215,800 funded the Phase III Recharge Basins project, intended to improve groundwater levels, manage chloride plumes, and increase water supply availability.

No recent grant opportunities are posted in the source. The authorization expires in 2026, and additional program funding is at the discretion of Congress.