Since 1974, the Bureau of Reclamation has supported various projects to reduce salt levels in the Colorado River’s upper and lower basins. Now, a bill to increase the 50-year-old program’s funding is heading to President Joe Biden’s desk after passing both chambers of Congress. 

The bill, called the Colorado River Salinity Control Fix Act, was first introduced in July in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. The House companion bill was introduced by Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah. The act had several additional co-sponsors in both chambers including Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., and Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. 

Bennet said in a statement that the legislation will “support ongoing efforts to keep water from the Colorado River safe for communities, farmers and ranchers and water users throughout the entire Basin.” 

River salinity can have impacts on agricultural, municipal and industrial water users, contaminating water for drinking, reducing crop yields, causing damage to infrastructure and aquatic life, increasing water treatment costs and more. 

This act aims to flow additional funding to the Bureau’s Colorado River Basin Salinity Control program, which was enacted by Congress in 1974. The program currently receives funding from appropriations and a cost-sharing agreement that comes from a mill levy on power sales from federal projects within the Colorado River Basin. 

Don Barnett, the executive director of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, said in a statement that due to prolonged drought and increased project costs in the basin, the power revenues have been insufficient to address the challenge at hand.

While the program has been successful in reducing damages caused by the high salinity, damages continue to exceed $350 million each year, Barnett added. 

The new bill will aim to fix this funding challenge by increasing the federal share of the cost. 

“The proposed Colorado River Salinity Fix Act fixes the present imbalance between program funding and cost share requirements, and will allow Colorado and the other basin States to continue to maintain compliance with water quality standards,” said David Robbins, Colorado member of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, in a statement. 

In 2023, the program granted over $23.5 million to projects in Utah and Colorado to install pipe, PVC line and shotcrete canals to comply with Colorado River Basin Water Quality Standards. The majority of funds — over $20 million — went to projects in Colorado.