WASHINGTON D.C. — Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation announced an award of $24.9 million for drought resiliency activities in the Upper Rio Grande Basin.
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WASHINGTON D.C. — Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation announced an award of $24.9 million for drought resiliency activities in the Upper Rio Grande Basin.
Of that $24.9 million, $18 million was awarded to the San Luis Valley Conservancy District, Conejos Water Conservancy District, Rio Grande Water Conservation District and the Rio Grande National Forest in southern Colorado. Those four organizations were among the eight recipients selected under one cooperative agreement to receive funding for drought resiliency activities in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. The remaining $7 million were allocated to the U.S. Forest Service and organizations in New Mexico who applied as part of the group.
The Rio Grande Water Conservation District was awarded funding for, among other projects across subdistricts, retirement of irrigated farmland, acquisition of water rights to address depletions and replacement, and monitoring of well network upgrades and improvements.
Included in the funding they received, the San Luis Valley Water Conservancy was funded for support of the Alamosa Riverfront Project, which will improve access to the Rio Grande River for the underserved community of Alamosa; restoration of Saguache Creek at the Upper Crossing Station; over one mile of stream restoration on the Rio Grande at the confluence of the north and south channels downstream of Del Norte; funding to install a new turnback – replacing the existing wooden turnback – to improve efficiency of the transmountain Pine River Weminuche Pass Ditch and installation of a low flow value at the Rio Grande Reservoir.
Projects to be funded for the Conejos Water Conservancy District include improvement of the Antonito Conveyance, the Lower Conejos Restoration Project, The Mill Ditch Improvement Project and Phase 1 of a project to restore the Platoro Reservoir and mitigate the risk of wildfires.
“The projects are essential to addressing the long-term drought and water security in the region,” the statement from the Bureau of Reclamation read, “by improving operations and increasing reliability of water supplies, and include projects such as infrastructure efficiency improvements, for sustainability and better management at low water flows, ecosystem restoration, and advanced water acquisitions to more effectively manage surface and groundwater withdrawals for long-term sustainability of water resources and the communities that depend on them.”
News of the award to organizations in the Valley was sent out via email by Amber Heard, Deputy Manager of the Rio Grande Water Conservation District, to members of the Rio Grande Basin Roundtable and others on Sunday night.
“We have some awesome news for the Rio Grande Basin!,” she wrote, likely expressing the reaction of many.
In December of 2022, former President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law, which dedicated billions of dollars for priorities ranging from lowering prescription drug prices to transitioning to green energy. The bill also included – but was not limited to - substantial funds devoted to projects that supported drought resiliency; restoration of landscapes and protection of habitats and ecosystems; the repair, maintenance, updating or upgrading water systems and a myriad of other similar priorities.
The act included $550 million for Reclamation to implement domestic water supply projects and $4 billion for water conservation and ecosystem projects in the Colorado River Basin and other basins experiencing similar levels of long-term drought.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced more than $3.36 billion from the IRA for 230 drought mitigation projects, 40 domestic water supply projects, seven emergency relief projects for Tribal communities and four canal improvement projects.
In May of 2023, the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado also announced $11.1 million in funding they had received from the IRA for restoration of landscapes. More than half of those funds ($6.1 million) were allocated to restore the San Luis Valley landscape, an area comprising 2.64 million acres, including 323 thousand acres administered by the BLM. One of the most notable projects was the restoration of the Blanca Wetlands
Shortly after his inauguration, President Trump fulfilled his promise to supporters when he signed an executive order freezing unspent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding.
As of late November in 2024, 84% of funding from the IRA had been released with additional funding committed up to the last hours of the Biden administration.
The IRA, the landmark climate law, is responsible for creating more than 400,000 new clean energy jobs and spurring more than $422 billion in investments in total across the country — including more than 200,000 new jobs and $200 billion in Republican-held districts alone.