Representative Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ) has introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill extending the Cooperative Watershed Management Program (CWMP) for four additional years.
The CWMP provides federal funding to local non-regulatory watershed groups in the Western United States as part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's WaterSMART program.
In addition to extending the CWMP's sunset to 2031, the Cooperative Watershed Management Program Reauthorization Act provides the program with additional funding, raising it to $40 million per year.
"Southern Arizona knows firsthand how important it is to manage our water resources wisely," said Rep. Ciscomani in a press release. "The Cooperative Watershed Management Program helps bring local communities, tribes, farmers, and water managers together to develop practical, locally driven solutions to drought and long-term water security."
Rep. Ciscomani further emphasized his efforts to extend the program in the House Appropriations Committee, saying that he is "proud to introduce this legislation to strengthen and reauthorize the program so communities in Arizona's Sixth District and across the country can continue working together to protect and sustain our water resources for generations to come."
Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) are introducing the Senate companion bill.
Ciscomani's bill comes in the wake of Senator Mark Kelly's (D-AZ) Community Water Project Acceleration Act, which streamlines the federal review requirements for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Civil Works projects with limited federal funding, a system modeled after that used for federal highway projects.
