209 
‘‘(B) a State or unit of local government, 
including an irrigation or water district; or 
‘‘(C) a federally recognized Indian tribe. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-
tablish a regional water enhancement program in ac-
cordance with this section to improve water quality 
or water quantity on a regional scale to benefit work-
ing agricultural land and other lands surrounding 
agricultural land. 
‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION OF WATER QUALITY AND 
WATER QUANTITY PRIORITY AREAS.—The Secretary 
shall identify areas where protecting or improving 
water quality, water quantity, or both is a priority. 
In identifying these areas, the Secretary shall 
prioritize the Chesapeake Bay, the Upper Mississippi 
River basin, the Everglades, and the Klamath River 
basin. Not more than 50 percent of the funds made 
available for the regional water enhancement program 
shall be reserved for priority areas identified in this 
paragraph. 
‘‘(c) SELECTION OF PARTNERS.— 
‘‘(1) 
SOLICITATION
OF
PARTNERSHIP
PRO-
POSALS.—Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of the Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act 
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of 2007, the Secretary shall invite prospective part-
ners to submit competitive grant proposals for re-
gional water enhancement partnerships. 
‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—To be eligible for consider-
ation for participation in the program, a proposal 
submitted by a partner shall contain the following 
elements: 
‘‘(A) Identification of the exact geographic 
area for which the partnership is proposed, 
which may be based on— 
‘‘(i) a watershed (or portion thereof); 
‘‘(ii) an irrigation, water, drainage 
district, including service area; or 
‘‘(iii) some other geographic area with 
characteristics making it suitable for land-
scape-wide program implementation, as 
may be determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(B) Identification of the water quality or 
water quantity issues that are of concern in the 
area. 
‘‘(C) A method for determining a baseline 
assessment of water quality, water quantity, and 
other resource conditions in the region. 
‘‘(D) A detailed description of the proposed 
regional water enhancement activities to be un-
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dertaken in the area, including an estimated 
timeline and budget for each activity. 
‘‘(E) A description of the performance 
measures to be used to gauge the effectiveness of 
the regional water enhancement activities. 
‘‘(F) A description of other regional water 
enhancement activities carried out by the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(G) A description of regional water en-
hancement activities carried out by partners 
through other means. 
‘‘(3) SELECTION OF PROPOSALS.—The Secretary 
shall award grants competitively, based on the fol-
lowing criteria applied by the Secretary: 
‘‘(A) Proposals that will result in the inclu-
sion of the highest percentage of agricultural 
lands and producers in the area. 
‘‘(B) Proposals that will result in the high-
est percentage of on-the-ground activities versus 
administrative costs. 
‘‘(C) Proposals that will provide the greatest 
contribution to sustaining or enhancing agricul-
tural production in the area or rural economic 
development. 
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‘‘(D) Proposals that include performance 
measures that will allow post-activity conditions 
to be satisfactorily measured to gauge overall ef-
fectiveness. 
‘‘(E) Proposals that will capture surface- 
water runoff on farms through the construction, 
improvement, or maintenance of irrigation 
ponds. 
‘‘(F) Proposals that have the highest likeli-
hood of improving issues of concern for the area 
through the participation of multiple interested 
persons. 
‘‘(G) Proposals that will assist producers in 
meeting a regulatory requirement imposed on 
lands in agriculture production that reduces the 
economic scope of the producer’s operation. 
‘‘(4) DURATION.—Grants under this subsection 
shall be made on a multi-year basis, not to exceed 5 
years total, except that the Secretary may terminate 
a grant earlier if the performance measures are not 
being met. 
‘‘(d) PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) GENERALLY.—Not later than 30 days after 
the award of a grant to a partner under subsection 
(c), the Secretary shall enter into a partnership agree-
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ment with the grant recipient. At a minimum, the 
agreement shall contain— 
‘‘(A) a description of the respective duties 
and responsibilities of the Secretary and the 
partner in carrying out regional water enhance-
ment activities; and 
‘‘(B) the criteria that the Secretary will use 
to measure the overall effectiveness of the re-
gional water enhancement activities funded by 
the grant in improving the water quality or 
quantity conditions of the region relative to the 
performance measures in the grant proposal. 
‘‘(2) ACCEPTANCE OF CONTRIBUTIONS.—The Sec-
retary may accept and use contributions of non-Fed-
eral funds to administer the program under this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(3) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall 
waive the limitation in section 1001D of this Act if 
the Secretary determines that doing so is necessary to 
fulfill the objectives of the regional water enhancement 
program. 
‘‘(e) MODIFICATION OF SECRETARIAL AUTHORITY.— 
To the extent that the Secretary will be carrying out re-
gional water enhancement activities in an area, the Sec-
retary may use the general authorities provided in this sub-
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