Congresswoman Stansbury's Urgently Needed Drought And Water Security Package Advances In Committee Hearing
Statement
Today, critical legislation to address devastating drought and transform federal water management advanced through the U.S. House of Representatives, as Representative Melanie Stansbury's (N.M.-01)comprehensive water legislation received a legislative hearing before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife. During the hearing, Rep. Stansbury outlined how her legislation would lay the groundwork for improving water management during an era of unprecedented hydrologic change in New Mexico and the West.
The two bills, combined in the Senate companion legislation as S.4236 and sponsored by Senators Martin Heinrich (N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (N.M.), were heard before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resourcesduring a legislative hearing on May 25.
The hearing comes as communities across New Mexico face the impacts of unprecedented early-season wildfires and the worst drought in 1,200 years. Last month, Rep. Stansbury introduced her bipartisan, bicameral Water Data Act (H.R. 7792) and Rio Grande Water Security Act (H.R. 7793). Rep. Stansbury's Water Data Act equips water managers, farmers, and communities with the tools they need to plan for water resilience by creating a national framework to standardize federal water data and make it publicly accessible in real time.
"The time to act is now," said Rep. Stansbury. "Our river is anticipated to go dry this summer on significant stretches throughout New Mexico on the Rio Grande. If we are going to be able to meet the needs of our farmers, of our communities, of our Tribes, and of the ecosystems that provide life- sustaining support, we must act now. Congress must enact legislation to support these communities and their future resilience."
During the hearing, New Mexico State Engineer Mike Hamman testified in support of the vital legislation, highlighting the benefits of the bills for communities and water managers across New Mexico and the success of New Mexico's Water Data Act that Rep. Stansbury authored during her service in the New Mexico State Legislature.
"I commend Representative Stansbury and the bill's co-sponsors for proposing this legislation," said State Engineer Mike Hamman. "I fully support these two bills and agree that their passage will assist New Mexico, the arid west, and the nation as we address impacts to our water resources resulting from the uncertain future of observed and modeled temperature increases resulting from global CO2 emissions. What we can measure, we can manage, and what we can manage, we can provide well-planned adaptation strategies for future water resource challenges."
Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee Chair Jared Huffman (Calif.-02) also highlighted his support for the bipartisan bills during the hearing, emphasizing the need for comprehensive drought legislation as the West faces the impacts of historic drought.
"We'll consider two water-related bills today from Rep. Melanie Stansbury, H.R. 7792 and H.R. 7793. These bipartisan bills advance several solutions to help communities continue to navigate unprecedented drought conditions that are fueled by climate change," said Chair Huffman. "Rep. Stansbury's bills will complement the work we've done [in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] and provide additional support for communities."
Rep. Stansbury's Water Data Act equips water managers, farmers, and communities with the tools they need to plan for water resilience by creating a national framework to standardize federal water data and make it publicly accessible in real time. The Rio Grande Water Security Act will bring game-changing coordination and resources needed to address the water security needs of the region for the first time in history. The bill will also reauthorize an important program to address the irrigation infrastructure needs of the Pueblo nations who have used these waters for countless generations.
The Water Data Act is supported by a diverse coalition of water experts and organizations, farmers, and communities across the United States, including New Mexico Farm & Livestock Bureau, National Groundwater Association, The Water Foundation, the Internet of Water Initiative, the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, We the People of Detroit, the Interstate Council on Water Policy, and Family Farm Alliance. Since its introduction, the bill has gained momentum with 14 bipartisan cosponsors, including Reps. Burgess Owens (Utah-04) and Susie Lee (Nev.--03).
The Rio Grande Water Security Act enjoys support from a variety of water users and managers across the Basin, including the Pueblo of Sandia, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, Amigos Bravos, and Friends of Bosque del Apache. The bill has gained key bipartisan cosponsorships from Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M.-03), Rep. Yvette Herrell (R-N.M.-02), Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.-7), and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.-2).
Rep. Stansbury's remarks as delivered can be found below.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and to the Ranking Member for holding this hearing today and allowing us the opportunity to talk about these two game-changing pieces of legislation that will help to transform water management across the West.
I want to start this morning by thanking everyone who helped to draft and contribute to H.R. 7792, the Water Data Act and H.R. 7793, the Rio Grande Water Security Act. These two bills are many, many years in the making and could not have been created without the input and support of colleagues on both sides of the aisle who made important contributions-- our agricultural producers, farmers and ranchers, irrigation and conservation districts, acequias, state, tribal and local partners, federal agencies, researchers and scientists and conservation organizations, all of whom helped to shape and craft the legislation that's before us today.
I also want to offer a special thanks and a warm welcome to Mr. Mike Hamman, who is New Mexico's State engineer, and is who is here to testify on behalf of these pieces of legislation, as well as our State Land Commissioner Ms. Stephanie Garcia Richards, who's also a great water and lands champion in our state.
In New Mexico and across the West, our communities are facing an unprecedented millennial drought and water issues that we know are unlikely to abate in the near future. As we know, water is life. And yet, we do not have the most basic information at our fingertips to manage water, information about groundwater needed for livestock wells, information about the flow of water in our acequias and our irrigation districts, water needed for conservation and the preservation of various species.
The bipartisan Water Data Act is designed to address this challenge, to unleash the power of big data and transform water management not only across the West, but across the United States, and is based on a similar framework that was undertaken two decades ago to transform and standardize geospatial data.
This bill, if enacted and put into place will literally help to transform water management across our nation by creating a national framework for sharing, integrating and utilizing water data. The other bill that I am here to present today is H.R. 7793, which is the Rio Grande Water Security Act to help address long- term water needs on one of the West's most iconic rivers.
The Rio Grande stretches 1900 miles from its headwaters in Colorado, down to southern Texas, where it empties into the Gulf. It crosses three states, international borders, dozens of Tribes, and countless communities serving millions of people across the West. And yet we do not have a single framework within all of these stakeholders can work together to address their water needs in the short term as we face drought, and in the long-term as we face climate change.
This bill, which is also a bipartisan bill, and supported unanimously by our entire delegation, will bring a framework to the management and long-term resilience of the Rio Grande river so that our communities who have lived there for countless generations will continue to be able to live resiliently into the future.
The bill also includes provisions to reauthorize the Pueblo Irrigation Fund, which is a crucial tool in helping our Pueblos which have used the waters of the Rio Grande since time immemorial, to help improve their infrastructure and address their water needs as we move forward into a climate change future. These bills are vital to the future of water in the West and particularly in my home state. That is why these bills are bipartisan, it is why they are supported by Congressmen and women across the aisle and across the West as well as in the Senate.
That is why they are supported by a wide swath of stakeholders including the Family Farm Alliance, the Farm Bureau of New Mexico, Trout Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, our states, Tribes, Pueblos, irrigation districts, and conservation districts, and many, many countless others.
The time to act is now. Our river is anticipated to go dry this summer on significant stretches throughout New Mexico on the Rio Grande. If we are going to be able to meet the needs of our farmers, of our communities, of our Tribes, and of the ecosystems that provide that life- sustaining support, we must act now. Congress must enact legislation to help support these communities and their future resilience. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
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