The Biden-Harris Administration is leading a whole-of-government effort to make Western communities more resilient to climate change and the ongoing megadrought by harnessing the full resources of the President’s historic Investing in America agenda. The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law together include $15.4B to enhance the West’s resilience to drought, the largest investment in climate resilience in our nation’s history.
In early April, senior officials from the White House and the Department of the Interior traveled to Arizona, California, Colorado, and Nevada to highlight the Administration’s unprecedented investments in drought resilience and close collaboration with Colorado River Basin states, Tribes, water managers, farmers, irrigators, and other stakeholders.
The Administration is announcing new investments for water-saving projects and other conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin that will immediately yield hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water savings. These water savings will grow rapidly in the years ahead as additional, longer-term water efficiency infrastructure and resilience strategies come online:
- Up to $233M in water conservation funding for the Gila River Indian Community
- Up to $36M for water conservation in the Coachella Valley
- $20M for four small surface water storage and groundwater storage projects in California and Utah, including one near the Salton Sea
- Over $54M for repairs to aging infrastructure to improve water delivery, including $8.3 million for the Imperial Dam
- Expanded drought-focused outreach and technical assistance to communities in the Colorado River Basin
For more information details about these investments, see the April 6 fact sheet »