Congressman Andy Biggs proposes $19B plan to boost Colorado River water supply

Rep. Andy Biggs on Wednesday introduced a sweeping water bill that would pour $19 billion in federal funding into new infrastructure while cutting permit requirements across the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin.

The Colorado River Basin Water Security and Infrastructure Act was introduced weeks after the Bureau of Reclamation finalized operating guidelines for 2027 and 2028 that impose 1.25 million acre-feet in annual cuts on the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada while sparing the Upper Basin from mandatory reductions.

Arizona faces the hardest blow: a 760,000-acre foot reduction, most of it borne by the Central Arizona Project, which serves nearly 6 million people, mostly in the Phoenix and Tucson areas.

Biggs, a Republican congressman who is running for governor, said conservation alone cannot close the gap.

Bill would slash permits, fund water desalination

His bill would remove environmental review requirements that can hold up water projects for years, require the federal government to make permitting decisions within six months and pay two-thirds of the cost of new water projects.

The bill would also reopen a shuttered desalination plant near Yuma, partner with Mexico to desalinate seawater and study how to capture California stormwater before it drains into the Pacific Ocean.

Nevada filed a lawsuit last month challenging the federal operating plan, and CAP President Terry Goddard told the Arizona Republic that Arizona may follow.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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