Kelly, Colleagues Urge Interior Department to End Funding Freeze for Colorado River Water Savings Project

Today, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined Democratic Senators from the three Lower Colorado Basin states in urging the Department of the Interior to immediately cease its freeze of Inflation Reduction Act funding for the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program. The Senators criticized the Trump administration’s executive order halting all Inflation Reduction Act disbursements, including pausing the $4 billion passed by Congress for water management and conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin and other Western areas experiencing drought. 

In addition to Kelly, the letter was signed on by Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) Adam Schiff (D-CA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), and Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). 

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—now 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 historic seven-state consensus agreement last 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 the Inflation Reduction Act and 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,” continued the Senators. “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 the Office of Personnel Management’s memo last 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. 

Full text of the letter is available here.