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Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Boudreau Other administration officials announced the funding Wednesday during a visit to the Imperial Dam on the Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona.
“As we grapple with record droughts and changing climate conditions across the West, these investments in aging water infrastructure will help protect community water supplies and revitalize water supply systems. ,” Beaudreau said in a statement.
Extreme droughts have plagued much of the West in recent years, and federal and state officials have sought ways to conserve precious water supplies and mitigate the impact on communities forced to cut back on water. The recent barrage of atmospheric rivers in California has created the opposite problem. Extensive flood test reservoirs, embankments, and other water infrastructure.
“This past winter’s devastating winter storm onslaught was just the latest in a long line of weather whiplash that overwhelmed and devastated California’s aging infrastructure,” said Alex Padilla. The senator (Democrat of California) told reporters Wednesday in a call about the new funding. “And because we know the threat of climate change is an existential threat, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, so we need to be strategic and intentional about how we invest in infrastructure. I have to.”
Federal funding for water-related problems in the West is increasing, with an additional $4 billion allocated to mitigate the effects of drought as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The funds include payments to farmers to temporarily stop planting crops to save water, long-term investments in more efficient irrigation systems, and canals to reduce the amount of water lost. includes improvements to
“Unprecedented situations require new solutions,” said Camille Karimrim Touton, Director of the U.S. Rehabilitation Bureau.
High-ticket interior repair projects include $43 million to refurbish generators and turbines at the San Luis Hydroelectric Plant in Merced County, California. $42 million to replace a transformer at the Spring Creek Power Station in California for a pump that moves water from the Trinity River to the Sacramento River. $66 million to upgrade a fish hatchery on the Trinity River in California.
Much of the funding is aimed at rehabilitating aging infrastructure, but some is aimed at preventing water wastage. In Idaho, $4 million will go toward lining her six miles of canals in the Boise area to prevent seepage. Another $4 million will be spent to repair long-standing leaky canals in Washington’s Columbia River Basin, according to a list of projects funded by the Bureau of Reclamation.
The issue of lost water through evaporation and other forms of waste is at the heart of the Colorado River negotiations. Some of the basin states want to significantly reduce water usage based on evaporation and other losses. California, which has the most to lose with that approach, rejected the plan.
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