i'm the chairman of the group of migratory birds and in the washington state's we do conservation as unprecedented in the amount of conservation we are doing. i spent 14 years building is a legislature trying to permit a reservoir that shaped the lower valley we tried to build at the second one and what we need to realize there were any impediments to the best wishes. this committee has a reputation where people work together. we need a unanimous coordination of allowing the process to work. a storage is going to be critically important. from the continental divide the

forests are broken and i get full to the bureau of reclamation with the alliance. it's of the colorado river is not generating because it isn't functioning. what we need to do is take the walls and the efforts and the dollars that have come through from the recent infrastructure bills. talking about how we redo the kind of water i spent last week with the forest service agency where i rode horses my whole life and elephant couldn't walk through now and we need to empower those people that want to do things to actually do what you all have said they would do.

that's the problem we are not acting in the way that we know how to act and it just breaks our heart because we know what to do. senator from the legislature is probably the best implementer of policy in the united states. i was with him sunday talking about the frustration and it may sound cynical, but what it's done in my world is we are prisoners of a bureaucracy functioning. we have to allow the system to function and if there's one message that's coming from farmers, let us do what we do. we can't give up our production to the third world which we are in the process of doing at the expense of the third world. there are food riots and we are raising avocados and taking major crops and we need to reverse the agriculture is as powerful as it has always been to get my message about farmers telling their children don't farm because there's no future

in it, we have to turn that around. it is as critical as i can tell you and when we look at the crisis that we think is a ukrainian bill, it isn't. it's much more complicated and it's been going on for years. if we don't act, we won't have farmers. this has been such an opportunity for me. that's the infrastructure that had to be replaced that was built in 1902. the roosevelt administration and that's the infrastructure part of how important it is how we get down and no how to do what we need to do. >> mr. stern. >> ranking member barrasso and members of the committee thank you for inviting the service to provide testimony on drought in

the western united states. my name is charles stern and i'm a specialist and natural resource. my comments today will focus on drought not in any one specific location but as a broad policy issue. serving the u.s. congress, it takes no position on these issues. at the drought remains widespread across many states with some areas in an extended period of extreme drought. may 20 through april 2022 was the second driest period in arizona, california, nevada, new mexico and utah and at the fifth driest period since 1895 in colorado. the west has a long history of drought, the geographically widespread nature of the current drought across the states is notable. the federal government defers to the state groundwater allocations. therefore state, local and tribal entities lead most government efforts to respond to drought. however these look to the federal government for relief when disaster occurs.

following the series of drills in the 1990s, congress enacted the drug policy act in 1996 and created the drought policy commission. in 2,000 the commission submitted a report and among other things noted that the united states needed to embrace the policy with preparedness at its core and congress established a federal nonfederal national drought council to coordinate federal programs addressing the drought. congress enacted a some of these recommendations, for instance creating the national integrated information system in 2006. other recommendations such as increased support for non-drug preparedness were administrative. the coordination efforts take several forms. congress enacted a range of authorities related. the most federal financial aid addresses agricultural production laws. other authorities addressed the monitoring and research, emergency drinking water supplies and other short and long-term drought responses and

mitigation actions. multiple federal agencies contribute to efforts to predict, plan for and respond to drought. the 2000 national policy report identified 88 drought related federal programs. the disaster and supplemental appropriation productivities that are expected to improve the monitoring preparedness and resiliency and. due to the expected lag times over the fiscal years it will take several years before the effects are fully realized. outside of the new funding resources, some are interrelated actions to mitigate drought. the testimony broadly divides into planning preparedness, monitoring, augmenting supplies and demand management.

the biden administration pointed to opportunities for states and localities to utilize funding for drought and mitigation and throughout the dedication it's another point of emphasis by these agencies. various efforts to improve the drought information and monitoring. of these have the potential to strengthen the overall understanding of drought and strengthen the national drought early warning system. in terms of augmenting the water supplies, the 2016 enactment of the infrastructure improvements to the nation act authorized the first significant reclamation financial support for new water storage project construction and decades. these funds supported studying at 13 projects across three western states with more funding pending allocation. some extension that is largely used to support nonfederal water storage projects and the water supplies which is water reuse, recycling is an area where federal support has facilitated the development. the wide adoption depending on

the technology, water source and location involved and influenced by the financial regulatory contacts. some propose increased prioritization for alternative supplies with multiple benefits for stakeholders or for projects that are constructed in rural areas. the groundwater storage and others are also viewed as an alternative to the surface water storage. congress and is enacted but not funded for the reclamation to support these projects. federal support for the state and local efforts to respond including various efforts to manage the demand for water during times of scarcity are also areas of consideration. we discussed these and others in the written testimony. i would be pleased to address any questions you have at the appropriate time. >> thank you for your testimonies and we will start the questioning now and understanding senator kelly has to go to head up the hearing and if you will, sir, go ahead and

start. it's good to see you again. i think we've all established that this drought is unprecedented. and i understand from your testimony, commissioner, the colorado river is facing a structural deficit of between two to 4 million next year. to put that amount in perspective for everybody in the room or anybody that's watching how arizona's allocation for the colorado river water is 2.8 million. california, 4.4 million, colorado gets 3.9 million for the river. the state absorbed this two to 4 million loss it would wipe out the deliveries to cities, tribes and farms in phoenix and tucson. this is certainly not the public interest in the states national

role in strategic minerals and semi conductors of manufacturing. working with basin states to develop the consensus agreement to conserve more water in lake mead and lake powell by august. i want to make sure we understand your testimony. if the basin states cannot reach an agreement, is the department prepared to take action. for the other states without regards to the river priority. >> thank you for that question, senator. yes, we will protect the system. but we are not at that point yet, so let's get to the table and then figure this out by august. >> when do you anticipate you might get to that decision point? >> the study is usually where we determine what the operations are for the next calendar year.

august 16 is the date we have the first shortage announcement last year. that's what we are working towards. >> leading the basin and conserving water. tightening the water budgets we've worked to concern 850,000 acre-feet into the lower basin. arizona has done everything that arizona has been asked and we will continue to step up here but we need partners and long-term commitments from the federal government because this is a basin wide problem not just an arizona problem. we lay the groundwork for increasing conservation and augmentation in the bipartisan infrastructure bill and we fully funded programs like the drought contingency plan and the 500 plus plan to keep more water in

lake mead. commissioner, does california where the upper basin have a plan for how it would utilize resources under the drought contingency plan? >> those are conversations that are ongoing including the upper basin states in california. >> so you don't know if they currently have a plan? >> there is a drought relief operations act the upper basin has, but could there be more system demand and management, yes. >> will the administration be pushing mexico to conserve more colorado river water? >> that is a conversation we are having with our partners in mexico. they are fully aware we have briefed them in the way we are breathing you on what we are seeing on the river. they are absolutely a partner here that we need to work with. >> and commissioner, can the federal government move faster

deploying the water recycling projects under the bipartisan infrastructure law? arizona could see two-tier curtailment as soon as next year. the first round of cutbacks in january hit the farmers in central arizona especially hard and if we don't invest more in the conservation augmentation and assistance to farmers it could raise food prices at the time they have record highs. the white house interagency drought task force recently called for a whole of government response. it does reclamation have a cost estimate for the resources needed to mitigate the future years of shortages? >> that is something that we are talking about now especially the scale of what we are looking at in the magnitude of what actions we need to take. about what i will say is i will

send money to make sure we are meeting the goals as congress intended and also to provide sustainability in the west. >> when you get that estimate, could you get it to my office? it appears it is outpacing the annual appropriations process right now, so it's faster than we are appropriating the money to deal with it. could you get back to me how the reclamation might benefit if congress expanded the stafford act for drought? >> yes, i will get back to you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you for that amazing opening statement. it hit every member of the panel and i'm very grateful for you to be year. here.i want to ask about the imt on food cost the drought has brought because you've made some suggestions. what we are seeing is a reduction in food supply and

increasing cost for american families. also address this, wyoming continues to advocate for things such as more water storage to be more efficient capturing from the agriculture rather than let it flow downstream. more flexibility from the bureau in the reservoir operations to manage the available supplies and better forecasting data. do you agree with these steps in a wealthy lead to more food production if we do those things? >> thank you for that question, senator. i absolutely do and the testimony as you can tell is full of specific recommendations about how we make these moves forward. one thing i would like to emphasize, going prices going up we are not receiving the benefit. i think it is as ecological a

system that knows how to produce food and rural communities. i sat at a hearing recently with what's happening in the amazon is a crime against humanity. you've got to realize and places where great is happening, we have to accelerate the benefits and at the base of benefit for the american population is the food supply. we are giving away our food supply capabilities and the recommendations are specific. things this committee has recommended and the other committees have recommended. we just have to start implementing. if there's one message i have today it is implementation. the activities we all agree on to get it done and the permitting of the reservoir in the community that i'm very

familiar with is so frustrating meaning two times a week and the no-brainer process the forest service is desperate to get in and fix what they know is broken to deliver water. 160 acre-feet doesn't go down because the forest isn't functioning. we know that. we have to change that and that is the case with every watershed in the united states where the water comes from. >> what you talked about in terms of the producers not noticing the increased prices but not having the impact to reflect it back to them. >> in cheyenne this weekend you go to the grocery store the prices are up on hamburger, eggs, milk, soup. things we might go to the store to buy so we are seeing it but as you pointed out it's not heading back. the next question, which is the irrigation district tunnel collapse and you and i have been

to the site it left more than 100,000 acres in wyoming and nebraska without water significantly impacted farmers, ranchers and that's why i introduced the bill. the platte river basin repair act. would you agree drought only underscores the need for addressing the loss of aging infrastructure such as we saw the irrigation collapse? >> it's as i mentioned earlier the ukrainian issue is a real issue for food and weed and distribution but it's a bigger issue than that. it's a bigger issue with american farmers and what the drought has done is moved ahead trends that were happening without whatever is happening to us is so different. it's trends that have been happening and i've testified before on the need for storage

and it's not happening. the direction is so critical to being implemented. the lower basin states can store and use water this is done using existing authorities with the reliability of the water supplies over the last 20 years what comparable increased flexibility is the bureau considering or pursuing for the upper basin states like wyoming in terms of what mr. o'toole talked about in the operation of the federal reservoirs? >> on the aging infrastructure, your legislation is the basis of

the framework for the irrigation district at the reclamation. regarding flexibility that's a conversation we are having with the states. one of the flexibilities we had in the operations act is to move water down to lake powell so there are conversations that need to be had. it's not reclamation telling the states what to do. it has to be what is it you need, here's my authority and if we don't have the ability to do that to have a conversation with the committee. >> this is to all five of you and as quickly as you can. what role should congress end of the federal government have on the groundwater management going forth? you've been very direct with some of the things you've said that this doesn't make sense at all so if we could start if you could tell me what you think we could do and help you do the