A broad coalition of Colorado River water users is calling on the federal government to provide at least $2 billion in new funding for drought programs. The letter to congress comes from a strikingly diverse group. Its co-signers include farm districts, environmental nonprofits, Native American tribes, cities and others.
The Colorado River has been stretched thin for more than two decades. A 26-year megadrought, fueled by climate change, has shrunk supplies. Policymakers across the Southwest have not done enough to rein in demand accordingly. As a result, the nation’s two largest reservoirs have dropped to anxiety-inducing low levels for the users that depend on their water.
The new letter calls for “targeted federal investment in the Colorado River Basin to ensure water, food, and energy security while sustaining rivers and natural systems for the communities and economies that rely on it.”
Its co-signers wrote that federal payments could be used to conserve water, recover from wildfires and protect ecosystems, among other efforts.
“Such investment represents a small fraction of the economic value generated by the Colorado River system and those who rely on it,” they wrote, “Yet it is critical to protecting that value and avoiding far greater costs associated with system instability.”
Federal funding has been a big part of propping up those reservoirs and stretching out existing water supplies, especially within the last decade. The Biden administration designated $4 billion for Colorado River drought work through the Inflation Reduction Act. Payments from that program were frozen in early 2025.
Arizona water leaders said a federal official recently revealed that roughly $1 billion of federal money for the Colorado River may still be available. Federal water managers recently confirmed to state leaders that a plan to spend $454 million of it was approved by the Office of Management and Budget.
Previous federal spending went to a wide variety of water users. Big chunks of money were sent to farmers, cities and tribes who left water in major reservoirs in exchange for payments.
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