Congress shuns Obama’s budget at the Colorado Basin’s peril

By Jimmy Hague

Friday, March 4, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Dead on arrival. That’s what Congress is calling President Barack Obama’s latest budget proposal. In another sign of the antipathy that exists between the president and Congress, many members have said the only good thing about this budget request is that it is Obama’s last.

That couldn’t be further from the truth here on the Colorado River, because tucked inside the proposal are vital investments in water conservation that would make our water systems more flexible and resilient to drought. These investments would be a boon to hunters and anglers who rely on healthy rivers and streams.

The president’s 2017 budget proposes significant increases in funding for farmers and ranchers who use conservation practices, such as more efficient irrigation or improvements to soil health (because healthier soils store more water). This is the first time Obama has proposed full funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s conservation programs, and he deserves credit for directing more than $500 million more than last year into these successful programs in accordance with the 2014 Farm Bill. Because agriculture uses more than three-quarters of the water in the West, these on-farm water-conservation investments have the potential to greatly improve water-management flexibility and to give farmers and ranchers more ways of earning a living, without jeopardizing their water rights.

The president’s budget also includes investments in targeted off-farm water-efficiency improvements that can dramatically benefit local river conditions. The Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART Program awards grants for water-infrastructure upgrades and other projects that make our water systems more drought-resilient; these grants get a $3 million boost in the president’s budget. WaterSMART-funded projects across the West are already saving enough water each year to support 2.2 million people — more than the population of New Mexico. Projects funded in the seven Colorado River basin states save 315,000 acre-feet of water each year, or enough for 1.3 million people.

The proposal from the president is a promising start, but only Congress has the power of the purse. Congress needs to recognize the many positive changes in the budget request and support these drought-resilience programs at USDA and the Bureau of Reclamation through the appropriations process. Plus, because these agencies can do more in tandem than either can by itself, Obama and Congress should coordinate on- and off-farm investments to stretch the federal dollar even further.

Hunters and anglers want to see action from federal lawmakers to support fish, wildlife and our sporting traditions, while also providing enough water to cities and farms. Far from being dead on arrival, investing in key conservation programs could reinvigorate drought-weary regions and our Western way of life, while fish and wildlife benefit. I think I feel a pulse.

Jimmy Hague is director of the Center for Water Resources at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.