1. (a) Applicants. Eligible applicants may apply for grants to develop an initial scope of work or to develop or revise regional water plans.

2. (b) Activities. Those activities directly related and necessary to the development or revision of regional water plans are eligible for funding within the limits established in §355.99 of this title (relating to Funding Limitations), with the exception of:

   1. (1) activities for which the board determines existing information or data is sufficient for the planning effort including:

      1. (A) detailed evaluations of cost of water management strategies where recent information for planning is available to evaluate the cost associated with the strategy;
      2. (B) evaluations of groundwater resources for which current information is available from the board or other entity sufficient for evaluation of the resource;
      3. (C) determination of water savings resulting from standard conservation practices for which current information is available from the board;
      4. (D) revision of the state population and demand projections;
      5. (E) revision of state environmental planning criteria for new surface water supply projects; and
      6. (F) collection of data describing groundwater or surface water resources where information for evaluation of the resource is currently available;
   2. (2) activities directly related to the preparation of applications for state or federal permits or other approvals, activities associated with administrative or legal proceedings by regulatory agencies, and preparation of engineering plans and specifications;
   3. (3) activities related to planning for individual system facility needs other than identification of those facilities necessary to transport water from the source of supply to a regional water treatment plant or to a local distribution system; and
   4. (4) until September 1, 2000, requests from eligible applicants to plan for areas smaller than the regional water planning area in which it is located prior to the commitment of funds by the board to develop a regional water plan for that regional water planning area.

   5. (5) costs associated with administration of the plan's development, including but not limited to:

      1. (A) compensation for the time or expenses of regional water planning groups members' service on or for the regional water planning group;
      2. (B) costs of administering the regional water planning groups;
      3. (C) costs of public notice and meetings, including time and expenses for attendance at such meetings;
      4. (D) costs for training;
      5. (E) costs of reviewing products developed due to this grant; and
      6. (F) costs of administering the regional water planning grant and associated contracts.
3. (c) Bylaws. The board may not approve funds for a regional water planning area until a copy of the adopted bylaws of the regional water planning group that meet the requirements of §357.4(k) of this title (relating to Designation of Regional Water Planning Groups) has been filed with the executive administrator.
4. (d) Subcontracting. A grant recipient or subcontractor of a grant recipient may obtain professional services, including the services of a planner, land surveyor, licensed engineer, or attorney, for development or revision of a regional water plan only if the grant recipient or subcontractor of a grant recipient has secured such services on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications through a request for qualifications process.

Source Note:The provisions of this §355.93 adopted to be effective March 11, 1998, 23 TexReg 2330; amended to be effective January 6, 1999, 24 TexReg 161.