U.S. Government Announces $210 Million for Drought Resilience Projects in the West

The Department of the Interior announced $210 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for water storage and conveyance projects that are intended to bring clean, reliable drinking water to Western communities contending with the effects of extreme drought. The announcement comes at a time when there are increasing numbers of stories documenting how communities are being significantly affected by the drought, which is also starting to spread east.

The funding is being applied to projects in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, and Washington that are dedicated to repairing aging water delivery systems, securing dams, completing rural water projects, and protecting aquatic ecosystems. For example, the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Phase II projects entails $82 million being used to efficiently integrate approximately 115,000 acre-feet of additional storage through new conveyance facilities with existing facilities to allow Delta water supplies to be safely diverted, stored, and delivered. The need for projects like this is made all too clear by some of the ongoing and new stories involving the drought. For example, the Platte River in central Nebraska, which is fed by snow melt from the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado that feed into Lake McConaughy, has not had a chance to replenish as less and less snow falls over the winter. Photos of a portion of Interstate 90 near Kearney, Nebraska, show a completely dehydrated riverbed under a bridge that was previously filled with river water. The drought is also beginning to move eastward, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted earlier this year. In one sign of its move, much of the region surrounding the Mississippi River is experiencing conditions between abnormally dry and severe drought. Read more at the U.S. Department of the Interior and ABC News.