The Department of the Interior has announced $20 million water resilience projects in California and Utah.
These projects, funded through President Joe Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aim to increase the efficiency of water use in the Colorado River Basin.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is making a historic investment to provide clean, reliable water to families, farmers and Tribes, and increase resilience to drought," said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton in a release from the department.
"The funding will boost water storage opportunities and create a more reliable water supply for future generations by increasing resiliency and providing more flexibility for water managers,” she added.
Three projects will be funded in California. The $9.5 million for the Upstream Reservoir Storage Project of the Imperial Irrigation District will give the district better water management and a storage capacity of 2,100 acre-feet with a projected water in-valley conservation yield of 15,000 acre-feet per year for in-valley use.
In addition, $4.7 million has been approved for Groundwater Banking Joint Powers Authority’s Phase 1 of the Kern Fan Groundwater Storage Project, including the acquisition of 350 acres to create and operate recharge basins, recovery wells and conveyance structures.
Another $1 million has been allocated to Del Puerto Water District’s Orestimba Creek Recharge and Recovery Project, a small groundwater storage project where water will be stored in a local aquifer in wet years and then used in dry years to provide agricultural water supply.
Recharge water will include available unstored water, Central Valley Project supplies and flood water flows from Orestimba Creek.
Utah will receive $4.7 million for Washington County Water Conservancy District’s Ash Creek Project. The project consists of a new pipeline from the outlet of the existing Ash Creek Reservoir to the new offstream Toquer Reservoir on the north end of Toquerville.
“As communities across the West continue to face the impacts of ongoing drought, the Biden-Harris administration is making record investments to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River System now and into the future,” said deputy secretary of the interior Tommy Beaudreau in the release.
“By working together in close coordination with states, tribes and other stakeholders, we can provide much needed relief for communities across the West that will have a lasting impact for generations,” he added.
