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Balanced Reporting. Trusted Insights.
Monday, October 03, 2022
The Bureau of Reclamation has reached out to agriculture interests in the West as the agency considers how to spend the $4 billion earmarked in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act for bolstering water-saving efforts in the Colorado River Basin and other drought-stricken areas.
The Biden administration announced on Tuesday that Colorado River water shortages had passed a threshold that will require unprecedented water cuts in Arizona and Nevada, but a multi-state consensus on future cuts remains elusive.
Seven states in the Colorado River Basin have emerged from 3 months of negotiations with no agreement for how to conserve between 2 and 4 million acre-feet of water in 2023, leaving that decision in the hands of the Bureau of Reclamation.
Arizona's farmers, already receiving 65% less Colorado River water, are preparing to be entirely cut off from the aqueduct supply as the Bureau of Reclamation pressures states to slash water usage amid an ongoing drought.
The Interior Department is doling out more than $240 million for repairs to aging water infrastructure in the drought-ridden West, one of the first investments with ramifications for agriculture in the $1.5 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted last year.
A House subcommittee on Wednesday will serve as the venue for the third hearing in 10 days aimed at studying the impacts of a lingering drought on California and other western states.
Policy experts hope a new era in collaborative management will offer inspiration for the ongoing and complex negotiations over Colorado River allocations amid a historic and deepening drought.
A PPIC report finds partnerships between water agencies in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California could help balance water budgets and bolster drought resilience.
