The next is the oral testimony of Jennifer Pitt, Audubon’s Colorado River Program Director earlier than a Home Pure Assets Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries:
Chair Bentz, Rating Member Huffman, and members of the Subcommittee, thanks for holding this listening to on proposed laws addressing water administration within the western United States. My identify is Jennifer Pitt and I function the Colorado River Program Director for the Nationwide Audubon Society, with over 25 years of expertise engaged on water points within the Colorado River Basin. Nationwide Audubon Society is a number one nationwide nonprofit group representing greater than 1.4 million members and supporters. Since 1905, we have now been devoted to the conservation of birds and the locations they want, as we speak and tomorrow, all through the Americas utilizing science, advocacy, schooling, and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon advocates for options within the Colorado River Basin that guarantee ample water provide for folks and the setting.
Audubon helps H.R. 9515, the Decrease Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Modification Act of 2024. The Program constructs habitats alongside the Colorado River beneath Hoover Dam, and that habitat is important not just for the 27 species this system targets, but additionally for most of the 400 species of birds that depend on the Decrease Colorado River, together with Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Sandhill Cranes, and Yuma Ridgway’s Rails. At the moment, as a result of the Program spending doesn’t maintain tempo with the gathering of funds from non-federal companions, about $70 million is held in non-interest-bearing accounts. If these funds have been held in an interest-bearing account, the Program would have about $2 million in extra funds per 12 months, and be extra capable of preserve program implementation within the face of accelerating prices.
Audubon appreciates the inclusion of H.R. 9969 on this listening to. This invoice directs Reclamation and the Western Space Energy Administration, in session with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Administration Work Group, to enter right into a memorandum of understanding to discover and handle potential impacts of administration and experimental actions to assist management invasive fish passage within the face of drought and declining water ranges. Quickly altering situations on the Colorado River warrant the experimental strategy of adaptive administration, with the Work Group bringing collectively diverse pursuits to a consensus on tips on how to shield downstream sources and strike a stability on river operations. Outcomes of this collaboration embrace improved sediment flows that assist preserve sandy seashores utilized by crops and animals that dwell within the floodplain, in addition to by folks touring the canyon by boat.
The context for these payments is the present disaster on the Colorado River. Local weather change continues to ravage the Colorado River Basin, which is now in its twenty fifth 12 months of drought. The forecast for this winter is for above-normal temperatures and below-normal snowpack, which may impression Colorado River water provide. With a 2026 deadline looming for the expiration of current federal pointers for operation of federal Colorado River infrastructure – with implications for water provide reliability for folks and the river itself – human nature is creating unacceptable dangers. Colorado River water managers are getting ready for battle to guard their share of an more and more scarce water provide, slightly than specializing in holistic options.
Earlier this 12 months, Audubon joined with conservation companions in submitting to Reclamation our Cooperative Conservation Different for consideration within the post-2026 NEPA course of for growing Colorado River Working Pointers. Cooperative Conservation is designed to enhance water provide reliability, cut back the danger of catastrophic shortages to farmers and cities, create new versatile instruments that may shield infrastructure, incentivize water conservation, assist Tribes understand better advantages from their water rights, and enhance river well being. We urge Reclamation and all Colorado River Basin events to think about our strategy as they proceed by the NEPA course of.
From a hen’s eye view, the entire system issues. That should maintain true for water customers who should work out tips on how to share the Colorado River. The previous adage applies: united we stand, divided we fall. The Colorado River group – particularly Higher Basin and Decrease Basin pursuits – should cease considering parochially and begin excited about how we survive drier instances collectively.
I want to thank Congress for funding water conservation applications, equivalent to WaterSMART and the Cooperative Watershed Administration Program, and the essential funding within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation and the Inflation Discount Act, each of which embrace funding to enhance the resilience of the Colorado River Basin. With this funding, and states working collectively, we have now prevented a disaster, however we’re nonetheless only one dangerous winter away from catastrophic shortages. To be efficient, this funding must get out of federal coffers and into the fingers of water customers and water managers, to incentivize water conservation and effectivity, to enhance the well being of the forests and headwater streams which might be the river’s supply, and to stabilize the river itself – the pure infrastructure that provides water to greater than 40 million folks. Congress might want to assist sooner or later with extra funding to assist continued resilience investments within the Colorado River Basin as warming continues.
Thanks very a lot for the chance to testify and I’d be comfortable to reply your questions.
