Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Grants & Partnerships Program

Do you have an idea on how to reduce pollution in our waterways?

Or maybe you have a passion to improve your local creek, making it healthier and better for the plants and wildlife that live there.

If you have a creative and innovative project that furthers our mission of providing safe, clean water for a healthy life, environment and economy, we can help you bring that project to life.

Through our Grants & Partnerships Program, Valley Water offers funding that can help make your project idea become a reality and make a difference for your community and the environment.

Grants & Partnership Programs:

Standard Grants Program

The 2025 standard grant application cycle is now closed. Subscribe to our mailing list to stay updated and learn about the FY26 Standard Grant Program. 

Valley Water provides grants to support projects that promote safe, clean drinking water, water conservation, flood protection, and environmental stewardship in Santa Clara County.

The 2025 Standard Grants Program offers up to $150,000 per project under the following categories:

• Education Grants are for educational projects. Examples include presentations, curriculum or material development, educational videos, field trips or tours, including transportation.
• Planning Grants are for planning, design, environmental resource investigations, academic research, or feasibility study projects that do not have an implementation element.
• Stewardship Grants are for smaller-scale implementation or capital projects such as litter/pollution cleanups, native plant community gardens, water conservation projects, minor native habitat restoration, and minor construction of structures/facilities.

Eligible applicants include local cities, towns, county agencies, nonprofits, government agencies, and educational institutions (schools, community colleges/universities) serving Santa Clara County.

To learn more, visit our Standard Grants Program page.

Mini-Grant Program

Applications are accepted year-round!

Do you have a small-scale project idea or need help kickstarting a larger project? Valley Water is excited to introduce our Mini-Grant Program, designed to provide seed funding to encourage activities that further safe, clean drinking water, water conservation, flood protection, and environmental stewardship in Santa Clara County.

Now, you can apply for funding of up to $10,000 per project; no match funding is required! These changes make it easier than ever to get the support you need.

The Mini-Grant Program ensures equitable access to resources for all communities throughout the county. Funding priority is given to first-time applicants to support new projects.

To learn more about our new program and how to apply, visit our Mini-Grant Program page.

Valley Water Refill Station Grant Program

Applications are accepted year-round

Valley Water is excited to partner with the community through the Valley Water Refill Station Grant Program. These grants are designed to provide funding for the installation of water bottle refill stations to expand drinking water access, especially in economically disadvantaged communities or locations serving school-age children and students in Santa Clara County. With clean drinking water from these refill stations and increased use of refillable bottles, let’s do our part to help reduce plastic waste from single-use plastic water bottles.

To learn more, visit our Valley Water Refill Station Grant Program page.

Why partner with Valley Water?

We do better together!

As a public agency, we strive to protect and enhance water supply and habitat, but we can't do it all on our own.

That's why we have made a commitment to partner with our community to empower change and make a difference together. Grant funds are also open to a wide breadth of community members and organizations, allowing resources to be equitably accessed by all communities throughout the county.

Success Stories

Check out the projects Valley Water and the community have worked on together to benefit our waterways and environment. To learn more, visit our Success Stories page.

Where do Valley Water’s grant funds come from?

Funding for Valley Water grants come from a special parcel tax, not water rates. In November 2020, voters in Santa Clara County overwhelmingly approved Measure S, a renewal of Valley Water’s Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program. This program provides approximately $47 million annually for local projects that deliver safe, clean water, natural flood protection, and environmental stewardship to all the communities in Santa Clara County.

In the renewed Safe, Clean Water Program, funding for community grants and partnerships was re-organized and consolidated under Project F9: Grants and Partnerships for Safe, Clean Water, Flood Protection and Environmental Stewardship. “The measure that voters approved in 2020 included four areas where grant funds could be expended: standard grants, water bottle filling stations, mini-grants and partnerships. We are committed to awarding these taxpayer dollars as voters intended and to monitoring and reporting to the public on the status of projects.”

If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected] or (408) 630-2080.

Are you interested in staying in touch? Sign up for our mailing list to receive emails on future funding opportunities.