arizona news
Has been updated: March 13, 2023 at 7:49 AM
US Senator Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) gives a press conference outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, November 7, 2022. (Photo by Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)
PHOENIX — U.S. Senator Mark Kelly said Friday he won’t let the Colorado River collapse amid water shortages.
in an exclusive interview with KTAR News 92.3 FMKelly said the country cannot allow the water level in Lake Mead to reach a level where the water cannot be released from the Hoover Dam.
“Because if that happens, we won’t have access to water in California, Arizona, and Mexico. That’s not going to happen,” Kelly said.
Kelly explained that after securing about $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act and another $8 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the West now has the tools to implement much-needed water resilience projects. I’m here.
“Like drip irrigation, we will build more reservoirs and settle tribal water claims,” Kelly said.
“If you do all these things and start lining them up, you can save enough water in Lake Mead and leave it there so you don’t have to worry about water flowing downstream. Basin State.”
To continue to advance water conservation and resilience, we need to include water in more legislation like the upcoming Farm Bill.
“I’m already talking to my colleagues that the Farm Bill needs to be about not just Midwest agriculture, but Southwest agriculture,” Kelly said.
Kelly stressed that the Southwest must be included in the bill because 90% of the country’s lush greenery comes from Yuma County in the fall and spring.
“This is critical to our food supply, so we will be looking at Farm Bill opportunities to ensure we have a water future here in the West,” Kelly said.
At a roundtable earlier on Friday, Kelly joined the Central Arizona Project, prompting the federal government to quickly release $250 million in funding secured by the bipartisan infrastructure law for water infrastructure projects in Arizona. I asked for
