Colorado Delegation Unites to Demand $140M Water Funds Release

By Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun

The state’s congressional delegation sent a bipartisan letter to federal agencies, calling on them to fund Colorado River drought-response projects.

Colorado’s entire congressional delegation, Republicans and Democrats alike, is calling for the release of $140 million in frozen funds for Colorado River water projects.

In January, the last days of the Biden administration, the Bureau of Reclamation awarded funding for 17 projects as part of the federal drought-response effort in the overstressed Colorado River Basin. Three days later, President Donald Trump issued sweeping executive orders that aimed to reshape federal spending priorities to match his administration’s policies. The Colorado projects were caught in the maelstrom.

Colorado water managers were thrown for a loop. It stalled hoped-for progress on everything from irrigation ditch repairs to fish passage projects. Supporters of the Western Slope’s effort to purchase powerful Colorado River water rights at Shoshone Power Plant saw the promise of $40 million evaporate. 

The state’s federal lawmakers want that to change.

“We ask you to move forward with obligating the remaining $140 million worth of Bucket 2 projects in Colorado — not just for the benefit of our state, but for the resilience of the entire Colorado River Basin,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

The lawmakers who signed onto the letter were Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper; Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans and Jeff Hurd; and Democratic Reps. Jason Crow, Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse and Brittany Pettersen. 

They sent the letter Monday to the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation, the agencies in charge of awarding the funds. 

The 17 projects proposed work across Colorado’s Western Slope, which is part of the Colorado River Basin. Colorado River water helps supply farmers, cities, industries and ecosystems across the state. 

They identified rivers and flood plains where habitats were declining, deteriorating headgates and ditches that needed repair, dams that could be removed and other ways of improving Colorado’s aging water system.

So far, the Trump administration has announced that it intends to award funding for two of the projects. The Orchard Mesa Irrigation District, based in Palisade near Grand Junction, received up to $10.5 million to convert open canals into pressurized pipelines, improving water delivery efficiency and helping endangered fish in the process. 

Another project is set to receive $1.5 million to install advanced water metering technology and real-time remote monitoring systems in the Orchard Mesa and Grand Valley area.

The federal lawmakers want to receive the rest of the promised funding, which totals $140 million, so Colorado can better respond to increasingly unpredictable water supplies and prolonged drought in the basin.

“By making the Colorado River Basin’s headwaters more resilient, these Bucket 2 projects will also help manage the impacts of the unrelenting 25-year drought affecting the Colorado River Basin,” wrote the Colorado lawmakers.

Why were Colorado’s funds frozen?

Jan. 17 was an exciting day for some Colorado water managers. They could finally speak publicly about the influx of federal funding heading their way.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE COLORADO SUN