MID receives grant for drought resiliency projects

The Merced Irrigation District received nearly $300,000 of grant funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for drought resiliency projects.

The money will help MID develop a real-time simulation water management model that will help the district analyze, predict and respond to drought conditions. The district also will install two weather stations and two river gauge stations to collect water supply data on precipitation, flows, temperature and system losses. MID expects the projects to be completed by July 2016.

MID is one organization of many throughout nine states receiving part of $5.2 million for drought planning. The Bureau of Reclamation selected 12 drought resiliency projects and 11 drought contingency planning projects. Drought resiliency projects also are referred to as mitigation actions and help communities prepare for and respond to drought.

The Bureau of Reclamation is the largest wholesale water supplier and the second-largest producer of hydroelectric power in the U.S. It has operations and facilities in 17 states on the West Coast.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 12:18 PM with the headline "MID receives grant for drought resiliency projects."