In the News

The office of Rep. Brittany Pettersen announced in a Feb. 23 press release that bipartisan legislation, the Rural Water Security Act, was recently introduced to the Colorado congressional delegation by Pettersen and Rep. Jeff Hurd. 

Colorado currently is excluded from Section 595 from the Water Resources Development Act, which delivers federal support for water supply and infrastructure projects in the West.

The release stated the bill amends the WRDSA to ensure Colorado is eligible for the program and to “unlock potentially millions of dollars in federal funding to help update aging water infrastructure and ensure communities are resilient to drought and other climate threats.”

Greg Felt, general manager of the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, said the bill is a “big deal.” 

“The other basin states in the Colorado River are all able to participate in Section 595 except for Colorado. … A lot of Western states have access to this additional funding, and we don’t. … I appreciate our delegation working on this,” Felt said. 

The release said states eligible for Section 595 funding are Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The release also stated eligible projects include drinking water supply, storage and treatment systems, environmental restoration and watershed protection, mine drainage remediation and surface water protection.

Felt said water infrastructure includes irrigation systems, the oldest of which he said were built 150 years ago. 

“If you look at municipal systems, you often see the same thing, or you see a big reservoir and delivery systems that are aging and we have to keep up with them,” Felt said. “It’s sort of big-picture maintenance wise. … It’s an ongoing challenge, but it’s kind of crept up on us. This is the first big wave since the settling of the West where it’s like a lot of this stuff, if it’s going to continue to be operational, we have to update it. This would provide another mechanism for doing that, not to mention also building new storage and facilities.” 

He said the funding is a complex program, and projects can take years to bring to fruition. 

“But for many rural communities, they do not have the means to replace, improve or update their water infrastructure, and this does provide another path forward,” Felt said.