The Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Subcommittee on Water and Power earlier this month heard testimony on 16 bills, with several focused on addressing challenges in the Colorado River Basin. The Colorado River, vital to 40 million people across seven Western states, has been severely impacted by prolonged drought.
However, a handful of bills have implications for water users throughout the rest of the West, including in the Klamath Basin.
The Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for irrigated agriculture across the West, has been monitoring several of these bills, and prepared written testimony for the Sept. 11 hearing record.
Mark Limbaugh with The Ferguson Group – which represents the Alliance and the Klamath Water Users Association in Washington, D.C. – noted that several bills discussed at the hearing are simply reauthorizations of existing laws that have tremendous value for rural Western communities.
One of those is S.4242, introduced by Senators John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), which extends the authorization of the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991.
“We will continue to fight to ensure that key drought relief initiatives have the support needed to provide relief to Coloradans and folks across the Rocky Mountain West,” said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), who led the passage of a companion bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year. “It is time to get this bill through the Senate and to the President’s desk.”
Drought has become more prevalent in the West over the past several decades.
“Reclamation should have the authority to expend funds to mitigate the impacts of drought,” Limbaugh said. “The Alliance supports the extension of the authorization of the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief Act of 1991, with some caveats.”
The law currently allows financial assistance for temporary projects, other than wells, which can be permanent.
“We would recommend that the bill authorize Reclamation expenditures for pipelines and other drought mitigation measures under the Act be for both temporary and permanent projects due to the extended drought conditions impacting Reclamation projects in the West,” Limbaugh said.
U.S. Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) earlier this year introduced S. 4458, which would reauthorize the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act of 2006. Reauthorization would now include an authorization to the Bureau of Reclamation to undertake the design and construction of rural water supply projects, delivering potable water supplies to rural communities in western states.
“Access to clean water in rural areas is critical for South Dakotans,” Rounds said. “Authorizing each project individually causes these systems to get bogged down in unnecessary bureaucratic processes. Renewing the Bureau of Reclamation’s authority to study and authorize rural water systems will help deliver clean water by eliminating the need to authorize each project individually. I’m pleased to introduce this legislation with Senator Klobuchar to make it easier for America’s most rural residents to access the water they need.”
This program, which lapsed in 2016, replaced the process of authorizing feasibility studies on a case-by-case basis by Congress. This legislation would reauthorize the program for eight more years.
“Rural water supply development is an important part of the rural West. It is the foundation for both tribal and non-tribal communities in arid areas of the West and Great Plains,” Limbaugh said. “The Alliance supports the reauthorization of the Reclamation Rural Water Supply Act as we were instrumental in supporting the original passage of the Act.”
The Senate ENR Committee is expected to approve these bills in a markup later this year.
