The Biden administration has announced a $242M (£189M) investment package for water infrastructure projects to mitigate drought in the country’s western states including California, Colorado and Washington and Arizona.
The projects are designed to expand water storage and conveyance and ensure clean, reliable drinking water for communities. They range from reservoir sediment mitigation to dam raising and reservoir expansion, off-stream storage and water pipeline and conveyance systems.
Delivered under the auspices of the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) – the federal agency that oversees water resource management in the western states, the $242M builds on $152M (£119M) in 2023 and $210M (£164.6M) in 2022.
The $242M funding is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, designed to reverse the long term trend of offshore jobs and imported products. Investing in America has entailed legislation passed by Congress and signed into law, including the a US$1.9tn (£1.4tn) Covid-19 Stimulus Package, the Chips and Science Act comprising $39bn (£30.5bn) in subsidies for chip manufacturing on US soil, and the Inflation Reduction Act which aims to spur investment in green technology by devoting $369bn (£289bn) in subsidies through grants, loans and tax credits to public and private entities.
A key piece of legislation under Investing in America is the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, entailing “a historic investment” in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, to deliver clean drinking water across the US and to eliminate lead piping. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3bn (£6.5bn) over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination.
According to a US Department of the Interior media statement, the $242M for projects in California, Colorado and Washington would see the provision of at least 1.9Mm3 of additional water storage capacity. The funding will also invest in a feasibility study in Arizona designed to advance water storage capacity.
In California, projects receiving funding include the B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project and the Sites Reservoir Project.
The B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project: $75M (£58.7M) for the enhancement of off-stream storage capability. The project is in addition to the B.F. Sisk Safety of Dams Modification Project already underway and is in partnership with the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority. While the Safety of Dams Modification project continues, Reclamation continues to coordinate with project partners and other agencies, on environmental permitting and geotechnical investigations required for the technical design. Once completed, the project will develop approximately 160.3Mm3 of additional storage of water that can be delivered to water contractors and wildlife refuges.
The Sites Reservoir Project entails $67.5M (£52.9) for an off-stream storage project that will develop up 1.8bn m3 of new water storage on the Sacramento River system located west of Maxwell, California.
In Colorado, the Arkansas Valley Conduit project will entail $90M (£70.5M) to continue construction of a long-term water supply to an estimated 50,000 people in 39 rural communities along the Arkansas River. The project consists of more than 165.7 km of pipeline to deliver up to 9.2Mm3 of water per year from Pueblo Reservoir. It will replace current groundwater sources contaminated with radionuclides and help communities comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards. The Arkansas Valley Conduit broke ground last year.
In Washington, the Cle Elum Pool Raise Project entails $1M (£783,820) to continue to increase the reservoir’s capacity an additional 18Mm3 to be managed for instream flows for fish.
Meanwhile Arizona’s Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Project will receive $8.5M (£6.6M) to continue a feasibility study. The study aims to address water storage lost due to sediment accumulation at Horseshoe Reservoir (pictured), manage future sediment accumulation in Horseshoe and Bartlett Reservoirs, and investigate the potential for operational flexibilities that could be created with increased storage capacity. The study will assist in adapting to the impacts of drought and climate change on water supply availability. This feasibility study was authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“In the wake of severe drought across the West, the Interior Department is putting funding from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to work to provide clean, reliable drinking water to families, farmers and Tribes,” said secretary of the interior Deb Haaland. “Through the investments we’re announcing today, we will expedite essential water storage projects and provide increased water security to Western communities.”
“As drought conditions continue to grip the West, the need for these projects is increasingly evident,” said Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “These investments will advance projects that bring reliable drinking and agricultural water to residents in need, provide ecosystem benefits, and increase overall water storage.”
A study by Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other institutions, published in January in the journal Science Advances, indicates that instances of concurrent heat and drought conditions, known as “hot drought,” are unprecedented across western North America since the 16th century.
The study mapped summer maximum temperatures across western North America from 1553 to 2020, using a network of tree-ring chronologies. Combining these reconstructions with existing data on drought conditions, it found that the past two decades have been among the warmest in five centuries across much of the western United States.
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