ALBUQUERQUE — Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis today announced more than $520 million from President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to revitalize aging water delivery systems across the West. The funding will support 57 projects across all six regions served by the Bureau of Reclamation to improve water conveyance and storage, increase safety, improve hydropower generation, and provide water treatment. To strengthen America’s climate resilience, President Biden secured more than $50 billion for climate resilience and adaptation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, and established a National Climate Resilience Framework, which is advancing locally tailored, community-driven climate resilience strategies.
Acting Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis made the announcement while visiting the Middle Rio Grande in New Mexico. Five projects in New Mexico are receiving a total of $14.7 million in funding for aging infrastructure. More than $10 million of the funding is for a realignment project of the Rio Grande channel to improve water conveyance, critical habitat and sedimentation control in an area south of Albuquerque near the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. To date, the Department has announced $318.8 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $69.5 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for projects in New Mexico.
“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is making historic investments to provide clean, reliable water to families, farmers and Tribes and to make western communities more resilient to drought and climate change,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. “These investments in our aging water infrastructure will conserve community water supplies and revitalize water delivery systems building reliability and sustainability for generations to come.”