The Biden-Harris Administration has made a milestone announcement to protect short-term stability of the Colorado River Basin to help strengthen regional water security.
Within Biden’s Investing in America agenda are historic water conservation efforts that have helped stave off a near-future possibility of the Colorado River system’s reservoir dropping to a critically-low level that would threaten water deliveries and power production.
Due to the administration's efforts of investing in conservation and improved hydrology Lake Mead’s current depth is 1075 feet, the highest it's been since May 2021 when it was at 1073 feet.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation released a final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, outlining the collaborative effort to update operating guidelines for the Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams to make protocol align with the climate crisis and water shortages.
With these changes it is projected that 3 million acre feet could be conserved by the end of 2026, that's almost a trillion gallons.
In addition, the Biden- Harris Administration is putting $2.3 billion towards projects to expand affordable clean power in rural communities.
This is also through Biden's Invest in America agenda.
The US Department of Agriculture announced that the department will move forward on clean energy investments in 23 states to reduce emissions and add resilience to rural America's power grid.
New Mexico is among these states.
The over $2 Billion dollars is planned to fund 39 projects that help provide rural areas with reliable electricity that will reach over 2 million americans.
Through this initiative, the cost of electricity for hardworking families and small businesses will be reduced and add stability to power grids that have been challenged by the extreme weather conditions brought on by the climate crisis.
