Rosen, Cortez Masto Urge Interior Department to End Funding Freeze for Colorado River Water Savings Projects

Washington, DC –Today, U.S. Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Alex Padilla (D-CA.), Adam Schiff (D-CA.), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ.), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ.) urged the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze ofInflation Reduction Actfunding 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-oneexecutive orderhalting allInflation Reduction Actdisbursements, 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 historicseven-state consensus agreementlast 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 theInflation Reduction Actand 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,”they continued.“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 theOffice of Personnel Management’s memolast 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 letter is availableHERE.
Senators Rosen and Cortez Masto have been leaders working to support conservation efforts and combat drought. The Senators passedcritical legislationto permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which protects public lands in Nevada and across the U.S. They recentlyannounced$10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to enhance the safety and functionality of the Marlette Lake Dam. The Senators also secured$60 millionfor water conservation in Southern Nevada and$30 millionfrom the Bureau of Reclamation for the Truckee Meadow Water Authority to make Northern Nevada’s water supply more drought-resilient.
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