U.S. Department of Agriculture — Natural Resources Conservation Service · Disaster Resilience · Water & Wastewater
USDA NRCS Watershed Operations and Flood Prevention
Funds construction of watershed-protection and flood-prevention works of improvement in approved watershed plans. Cities partner with conservation districts as local sponsors.
Program facts
- Typical award
- $500K – $50M
- Non-federal match
- 0% (approximate)
- Audience
- Cities, towns, counties, and tribal governments
- Application window
- Continuous via approved watershed plan.
- Typical prep time
- 16–36 weeks
- Statutory authority
- Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act (Pub. L. 83-566); IIJA §70402
Catalog entry last verified 2026-05-24 · Verify on the agency page →
Eligibility at a glance
- Cities are eligible applicants.
Cost share varies by purpose: flood prevention 100%, agricultural water management ~65%. Amounts and timing approximate; verify directly with administering agency.
How Strategic Pursuit scores this program
When you run a city dossier, Strategic Pursuit cross-checks the city's demographics, federal award history, disaster history, and CEJST burden categories against this program's eligibility and strategic-fit signals. You see an explicit eligibility / strategic / competitive grade — backed by source citations — instead of a generic "match" badge.
Planning purposes only. Award ranges, match percentages, and application windows on this page summarize the latest publicly available agency guidance and are approximate. Always verify the binding NOFO on the administering agency's page before applying.