Water for America: Leadership to Address Changing Water Realities
Contact: Dan DuBray, (202) 513-0574
Introduction
More than a century ago, American pioneers began harnessing the waters of the West, opening vast new lands for settlement and development. Working with our partners, Reclamation built and now manages much of the water infrastructure that transformed the West into the vibrant region it is today.
The American West is now the fastest growing region of the country. To meet projected growth over the next 20 years, at least 4 million acre-feet of new water will be needed. Additionally, western water supplies are heavily dependent on a diverse and often aging portfolio of Federal and non-Federal water storage and delivery structures. As we move into the 21st Century, it is widely anticipated that this infrastructure will be inadequate to meet the growing demands of people, cities, agriculture, and the environment even under "normal" water supply conditions. In addition, climate change is adding uncertainty to the availability of future water supplies.
As in the last century, the Department of the Interior and Reclamation will continue to provide the vision and leadership necessary to ensure sustainable western water supplies through this Water for America initiative. The goal of the Water for America initiative is to address the impending confluence of three factors threatening to overwhelm our current ability to provide water to the arid West increased water demands, aging infrastructure, and decreased or altered availability of water supplies. This initiative will incorporate and build upon the successes of the Water 2025 Program by expanding the scope and placing renewed emphasis on responding to the changing water realities of the 21st century. Water for America will focus on three strategies: Plan for our Nation's Water Future, Enhance Our Nation's Water Knowledge, and Expand, Protect, and Conserve Our Nation's Water Resources.
The FY 2009 budget request for the Water for America is $31.9 million.
Of this amount, $19.0 million appears as the Water for America Initiative line item. The remaining $12.9 million is included in specific projects for endangered species recovery activities ($8.9 million) and investigation programs ($4.0 million). Reclamation's efforts focus on two of the Initiative's three strategies: Plan for Our Nation's Water Future; and Expand, Protect, and Conserve Our Nation's Water Resources.
Plan for Our Nation's Water Future
In planning for our Nation's water future, Reclamation will conduct several comprehensive water supply and demand studies. The studies, to be done in conjunction with willing partners, will occur in areas where high levels of anticipated water supply/demand imbalances exist. Each study will include three main elements: state-of-the-art projections of future supply and demand by river basin; analyses of how the basin's existing water and power infrastructure will perform in the face of changing water realities; and recommendations for satisfying future water needs through adapting and optimizing current operations and activities, or by changing or supplementing existing infrastructure and operations and adopting new technologies. Additionally, Reclamation will continue to provide funding for investigation programs placing an emphasis on 21st century challenges.
Expand, Protect, and Conserve Our Nation's Water Resources
The Expand, Protect, and Conserve Our Nation's Water Resources effort will use a broad-based challenge grant program (building upon the existing Water 2025 Challenge Grant program) to accelerate the implementation of cost-effective actions that will conserve water by improving efficiency; recycle and desalt water to create new supplies; and support proactive efforts to avoid the decline of sensitive species. Additionally, Reclamation will continue to provide grants for System Optimization Reviews and continue the Water Conservation Field Services Program. Another component of this strategy is accelerating endangered species activities in order to maintain and improve existing resident populations and/or localized critical habitat for various species impacted by Reclamation projects, thereby safeguarding the water supplies associated with these projects. Activities will include acquiring land for habitat development and improvement projects, recovery activities for listed species, improvements to stream flow, removal of barriers to spawning grounds, restoration of critical habitat and other related actions.