Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) urged the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding for the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program. The Senators, representing the three Lower Colorado River Basin states, criticized the Trump Administration’s day-one executive order halting all Inflation Reduction Act disbursements, including pausing the $4 billion Senator Cortez Masto helped secure for water management and conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin and other Western areas experiencing drought.
The Colorado River Basin, which supports 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of agricultural land across seven states, depends on a stable and reliable water supply from Lake Mead. The Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program being threatened by the Trump Administration directly adds water to the lake, contributing 1.2 million acre-feet of water in the past two years and raising the lake’s elevation by 15 feet. Projects planned for this year were set to conserve 734,000 more acre-feet and add another nine feet to the lake’s elevation.
These savings were pivotal in securing the historic seven-state consensus agreement last year for interim operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead through 2026, in which the Lower Basin States committed to conserving 3 million acre-feet of water to stabilize the Colorado River System. The Trump Administration’s funding freeze jeopardizes these critical conservation goals while undermining similar multistate agreements in the future.
“This Program, funded with an initial allocation through the Inflation Reduction Act and managed through the Bureau of Reclamation, has been instrumental in increasing water conservation, improving efficiency, and preventing the Colorado River system’s reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels that threaten water deliveries and power production,” wrote the Senators.
“The need for this water is more urgent than ever. This year’s water outlook is dry, with forecasts predicting below-average supply. Project recipients need certainty that the federal funding they were promised — whether formally under contract or not — will be available so they can plan accordingly,” continued the Senators. “Without continued support from Interior, efforts to conserve water and sustain the communities, economies, and ecosystems that rely on the Colorado River are in serious jeopardy.”
In light of the Office of Personnel Management’s memo last week calling for significant further reductions to the federal workforce, the Senators also pushed the Department of the Interior to make sure that any cuts do not further impact the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program. Reclamation staff are essential to Western water management, where water systems are extremely complex and are closely coordinated with state, tribal, and local authorities.
The full text of the letter is available here.
Senators Cortez Masto and Rosen have been leaders working to support conservation efforts and combat drought. As part of the Great American Outdoors Act, they secured permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). They recently announced $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to enhance the safety and functionality of the Marlette Lake Dam. They secured $30 million from the Bureau of Reclamation for the Truckee Meadow Water Authority to make Northern Nevada’s water supply more drought resilient.
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