The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday successfully marked up and passed its infrastructure bill that the Alliance and other Western water and ag interests have been tracking in the past week. The Senate is now gearing up for a floor vote as early as next week.

Media attention on this matter continues to grow. Politico Pro Energy yesterday reported on our Western ag/urban coaliton’s efforts to advocate for Western water infrastructure, and yesterday’s Daybreak by Agri-Pulse cited progress on the Senate’s $8.3 billion infrastructure package that includes Western water projects. A hefty $3.2 billion in the bill is dedicated to aging infrastructure and $1.15 billion is for water storage and conveyance.

Dan Keppen, executive director of the Family Farm Alliance, is quoted in the article, calling the committee’s bill a “balanced infrastructure package that includes resources for critical Western water supply needs.”

And as we shared in our last email to you, our water coalition steering committee sent a letter to the Senate for the need to preserve water infrastructure in the legislation. Click here for the latest coalition letter to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Joe Manchin and Ranking Member John Barrasso.

A press release by our coalition was issued after passage of the bill.

A Day Without Water Infrastructure

This excellent piece by our friends at the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC) convincingly shares the need for investment in water infrastructure in order to enjoy basic human needs in the modern era. CFWC asks what life would be like without infrastructure in all areas, from energy to transportation to water and more. Without it, our lives would fundamentally change without the infrastructure advances that have evolved over the last century.

“Imagining a day without infrastructure is also about considering our need to store and deliver adequate and dependable water supplies. We need clean drinking water. We need supplies for household purposes from washing our clothes and dishes to bathing and watering our yards to sustain a safe and welcoming place for our families and friends. It’s the assurance that when we turn on a tap, water is going to come out. It takes a dedicated effort to build and maintain the infrastructure needed to get it there reliably and affordably.”

Read the entire post here, and please share!