WATER SECURITYQuestions and Confusion as Trump Pauses Key Funding for Shrinking Colorado River
An executive order issued in the early days of the Trump administration hit pause on at least $4 billion set aside to protect the flow of the Colorado River. Halted funding threatens the sustainability of the entire system, experts say.
An executive order issued in the early days of the Trump administration hit pause on at least $4 billion set aside to protect the flow of the Colorado River. The funds from the Inflation Reduction Act were offered to protect the flow of the water supply for about 40 million people and a massive agricultural economy. With the money on hold, Colorado River users are worried about the future of the dwindling water supply.
The river is shrinking due to climate change. The nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, created by dams on the Colorado River, have reached record low levels in recent years amid a megadrought spanning more than two decades. If water levels fall much lower, they could lose the ability to generate hydropower within the massive dams that hold them back, or even lose the ability to pass water downstream.
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, allowed Biden to designate $4 billion for Colorado River programs, funding farmers, cities, and Native American tribes to conserve Colorado River water by leaving it in those reservoirs. The payments are compensation for lost income.
A lot of the IRA money has already been delivered, but Bart Fisher, who sits on the board of the Palo Verde Irrigation District in California, is worried about what will happen if it goes away.
“If there’s no funding,” he said, “there will be no conservation.”
Farmers in Palo Verde use Colorado River water to grow cattle feed and vegetables in the desert along the Arizona border. Fisher said they want to be active participants in protecting the river, but they stand to lose money if they use less water and grow fewer crops.
“You won’t see any ag producer in any district willing to sacrifice revenue from their normal ag production for nothing,” he said.
In the current funding cycle, landowners in Fisher’s irrigation district alone are getting about $40 million in exchange for cutting back on their water use. No one knows how much, if any, will be delivered in the next cycle, which starts in August. Fisher said farmers are already thinking about their budgets for the next growing season.
“At the moment, it’s unnerving to think that maybe come August the 1st, all of our plans will need to suddenly change,” he said.
