we will consider -- i can't do that yet. okay. let me explain the nominees we will have today that we can go to immediately. doctor david applegate of the geological survey, carmen to be the assistant secretary of the interior for insular and internationalti affairs and the director of the advanced research projects agency energy. we hold a hearing on the nominations on april 208th and i've supported all three nominees and they are qualified to the positions they've been nominated. doctor applegate served as the director for the past year. the career member of the senior executive service and diplomat in the state department. spent the last two and a half years in the states. at the head of the mechanical engineering department serving as the associate director of the solid-state solar thermal. i think all three nominees will bring their extensive knowledge and experience and i would urge my colleagues to vote to confirm that we will vote on the nominations once we have. thank you for being here as we discussed the f western drought crisis and pressing issues that's no doubt ever present in the minds of our western colleagues. at the west is facing historic droughtsur and 92% at large is facing a degree of drought. from some states like arizona, california, nevada, mexico and utah that figures is not 100% and in the southwestern they've called this the worst the area has seen in 1200 years. i know the water issues are different than we have in west virginia. we are often faced with flooding and too much rather than a drought but it doesn't matter where you live it has a domino effect that spills over into the lives of all americans from economic losses to wildfires to food scarcities and prices. it was a wake-up call to the entire country on the critical importance of stakeholders coming together to develop and s implement the solutions to tackle both water supply and water demand. especially inup light of the population growth and climate change. i want to stay focused on actionable solutions into that will be the focus of the drought discussion today. the reclamation has a vital role to play when it comes to managing the western resources and addressing the water security scarcity. teddy roosevelt created the declaration after signing the reclamation act on june 17th, 1902, 120 years ago this friday. the bureau is the largest water supplier operating over 300 reservoirs that provided one in five western farmers with water for their crops and 10 trillion drinking water to millions of peoplein each year. but the agency is facing unprecedented challenges. they reached the lowest levels ever recorded and currently they are sitting at 29% capacity while lake powell is a 27% capacity. they put hydropower which is critical to current and future reliability at risk because the water must be high enough to actually turn the turbines. in fact the reliability corporation signed the threat of the water levels to hydroelectricity generation to be among the challenges to maintaining the reliability and inthe west for the coming summe. the water projections also look at grandma and if the water levels continue to decline it would trigger the most for the southwest. this is incredibly alarming to everyone. the reservoirs are resource to millions of households, thousands of farmers and ranchers and wildlife habitat and over 3.5 million homes with multiple competing the reclamation facilities provide they are no doubtt going to be some toughio decisions ahead abt how to allocate the water supplies. last year congress invested in the water infrastructure and provided the bureau of reclamation a historic amount in the infrastructure law. 8.3 to fund projects that can provide short-term drought relief and long-term drought resilience. it provided funding for the water recycling and storage and aging infrastructure projects and water conservation efficiency funding for projects that provide multiple benefits for people in the environment. i look forward to hearing from the commissioner about how the agency is prioritizing the funds to deal with the scarce water supplies and where additional congressional action may be needed to prepare for the future. fwhile the discussion has centered onn the availability, the water demand solutions must alsoso be part of the conversation. i've talked at length about how the energy efficiency is a scommonsense way to reduce the energy consumption and i think it makes sense to look at it through the same lens. water and energy are two sides of the same coins. it takes a lot of water and a substantial amounts of water to produce energy. given the current drought high energy costs we are seeing across the board, water conservation a and water use are the lowest hanging fruit to managing the demand. i understand there are tools available to help the communities make investments to conserve water. one such tool was the bureau of reclamation's water smart program. this was designed specifically to address the water demand by investing in the irrigation infrastructure and water conservationon and efficiency improvements to help the communities respond to the water scarcity across the west. one thing we all agree on is that in all of the above collective approach is needed tc look after these tough conditions because they are only so many ways for such a critical resource. i look forward to learning from our witnesses on where the opportunities exist to further invest in both water supply and water demand. finally the long term effort is going to require flexible water management strategies and meaningful investments in the state and federal level. the bottom line is water is the most essential resource to the health of our people, our economy and our environment. but the prolonged drought is becoming a frightening norm and it's going to take collaboration on all parties involved to commit tot implementing the sustainable drought solutions for recognizing this reality is critical so i look forward to learning more and discussing how to better manage and serve the limited water resources that are the lifeblood of so many economies and communities. i will now turn to senator barrasso for his remarks. >> thank you mr. chair man and as you know we've agreed to a voice vote on all nominees once we have a quorum on this support to serve as the director of the united states geological survey at the department of interior. doctor applegate is exercising the authority under the usgs director with numerous positions it is the largest civilian water, earth and biological mapping agency and the nomination hearing, doctor applegate committed to prioritizing the core mission of the agency and to zealously guard the scientific independencefi to ensure the information it publishes. it's imperative and i'm going to be watching closely to makeim se he follows through that commitment to service the assistant secretary of international affairs and i know that we have a quorum so i will move on to say she currently serves and will do a fine job and also support the director of the advanced research project at the department of energy so thank you, mr. chairman. >> i will delay my opening statement. >> thank you, senator. now we can vote on the three nominations they. on a roll call vote i ask unanimous consent we take up all three nominations unblock and we have a voice vote on all three. is there any objections? hearing none, that will be the order and we have a second on the nominations to be the director of the geological survey and the ambassador to be the assistant secretary of interior for the international affairs and the director of the advanced research project agency with a recommendation nomination being confirmed all those in favor. proposed, the nomination is in favor of support and now we will go back to senator barrasso for his opening statement. >> thank you for holding the hearing on the drought we are living two in the west. first i want to welcome pat o'toole to be at the committee as a member of the panel. mr. o'toole, thanks for agreeing to testify. you've been here in the past and provided valuable insight and i'm glad you're here to provide that today on this important topic. i'my, going to give a more extensive introduction of pap that is a member of the legislature when we get to that point inhe terms of the witness testimony. to those in rural wyoming they can create conditions for catastrophic wildfires and communities. the wildfires have already burned close to 2 million acres this year and it's all across the country. drought also reduces recreationally in the tourism opportunities and reduces related jobs around reservoirs in the public plants and now according to the oceanic and atmospheric administration, 36 national parks over 400 ski resorts and reservoirs are experiencing moderate to drought.al the productionte and availabiliy but the water levels through to the operator would provide a significant amount ofli carbon free electricity to western communities and i mentioned than in the statement, chairman. the lack of availability threatens hydraulic fracturing and this is a process that produces abundant supply of natural gas. and alfalfa fields necessary for feeding and raising cattle. this could result in significant economic impact is for communities that depend on agriculture and ranching to create jobs. the farms and ranchers stopped because of the lack of water and it doesn't just put them out of work, it increases the cost of food. this hits families in the west end across the country that can afford it the least. american families are dealing with skyrocketing inflation and record-breaking gas prices at the pump the highest in history today. can't afford a grocery drought attacks on top ofce all of that, which is going to clearly boast family household budgets even further. the problem is itam in practice are clear what westerners need our solutions. which means we need solutions for the upper basins like wyoming to be in compliance with their obligations to weather colorado river basin states. the solutions include flexibility to the operation of the bureau of reclamation facilities to better manage availablee water resources. we alsoon need to develop better data to understand how much water the state and other states are using and account for that use. improved data will help us understand what the drought is doing to the states and to the water users all across all sectors. better forecasting data will identify the drought -related problems i before they arise. we also need to invest in additional water storagera opportunities to effectively use the water that we do have. building more water storage will give other states the water they need you to provide system resiliency and maintain stream flows toai benefit fish and wildlife. the stakes cannot be higher. a short and long-term solutions that provide westerners the waterso they nee. and policies that do not ensure that health, safety and economic well-being of american families first arnold policies worth pursuing. water storage and improved flexibility, better data and teimproved forecasting can help accomplish these goals. the lower basin states benefit from working together to address the drought and accomplish these goals andd again thank you mr. chairman and i look forward to hearing from the witnesses. >> thank you, senator barrasso. i would like to introduce the panel of witnesses and we have joining us today the honorable camille, commissioner of reclamation at the department of interior. we have the general manager of the southern nevada water authority and doctor hall vice president of the resilient water system of environmental defense fund. mr. pat o'toole of the alliance which senator barrasso is going to introduce and finally charlie stern a specialist in the natural resource policy. thank you for taking the time to be with us today to help educate us. now to the witnessing remark first of all, i'm going to start with mr. o'toole and i would like for senator barrasso to properly introduce you. thanks mr. chair man and i would like to take the moment to introduce pat o'toole who is going to be testifying shortly. he is the president of the family farm alliance can also be cattle and sheep rancher into a grower but a member of the family farm alliance's board of directors since 1998 and then named fifth president in march of 2005. a former member of the wyoming house of representatives he and his wife live on a ranch that has been in the family since 1881, which was nine years before wyoming even became a state. in the university and a strong g background in irrigated agriculture to provide valuable for today's hearing so thanks for making the trip and for joining us today. welcome to the committee. the commissioner of the bureau of reclamation thank you for this ongoing dialogue for the very important issue of water across the west. the panel can talk about the specificity to havet. the impact agriculture, communities and ecosystem. i will focus on the management system and the reclamation to manage this moment and into the future. my testimony goes into more specifics on the actions that we managed 189 projects but he will see a similar fact pattern on every basin. the p variability and temperatus leading to dry soil while translating into earlier and low runoff. for the unprecedentedh and that is true the reality in the mormon which reclamation must manage the system. reclamation is respondingg basin by basin and engaging in actions to mitigate the impacts of the landscape utilizing the operational and financial authorities as we take on the challenge based onn the best available science and whole of government approach and we take these actions along with our partners. here are a few today. maximizing the financial resources, we programmed $100 million inme fy 21 and received $210 million in fy 22 from congress and immediately putnd that on the wildfire activities. we funded 55.3 million grants across the western states. we are using the operational flexibilities in the colorado river we have the 500 plus plan engaged in the lower basin states for tribal agricultural and municipal users. we announced the actions that will help increase by nearly 1 million over the next 12 months to help preserve and protect. we are implementing the bipartisan infrastructure law and last month the reclamation announced 46 project lectures for the infrastructure and extraordinary maintenance to link 240 million. we have funding opportunities available for the efficiency projects and those are now throughout the year. this friday on our birthday we will be breaking ground on the first 100 million-dollar contract for safety in california. this friday the reclamation will celebrate 120 years since we were created by congress and the challenges c we are seeing are unlike anything we have seen in our history. the science of the system in the colorado river basin indicate one of immediate action and we rely on the 120 year track record of partnership to solve the challenges that continue to do so. but in the colorado river basin, more conservation and management are needed in addition to the actions already underway. between two and 4 million acres of additional conservation is needed just to protect critical levels in 2023. it is in our authority to act unilaterally to protect the system and we will protect the system. w but today we are pursuing a partnership working with the states and tribes and having this discussion that have the faith and confidence of the sentries track record in reaching a consensus solution. but faith alone is not enough. we need to see the work. we need to see the action. my ask of congress today is to keep pushing us back to the table. and to my partners, to stay at the table until the job is done. nearly 6,000 reclamation professionals of today are part of the legacy of america for harnessing cutting-edge technology the fire to the nation through the great depression and world war ii and continue to help sustain the life and livelihood of the american westt reno today. working with our partners in serving the people in the communities of the american west how the reclamation has met and overcome its many challenges it will continue to do so in the future. thank you. .. what has been a slow-motion train wreck or several years is accelerating and the moment are reckoning is near. will the situation subjectively bleak it is not in my view are proffered little they can do to improve the colorado river hydrology. the solution to this problem and by solution i don't mean refilling the rest of. avoiding catastrophic conditions in the degree of demand management previously considered unattainable. efforts are a a case in point. with 1.8% of the rivers allocated flows we are little more -- lake mead looses twice as much water to evaporation and we use each year. whoever is this tiny bar this this tiny bar in the waters sustain 70% of the state's population. our population is increased by 800,000. people over the last two decades. our water consumption last year was 26% last that the turn-of-the-century. we achieve thisti by pursuing -- paying customers replace grass setting mandatory irrigation schedules and strictly enforcing waterways to roles. we have removed enough grass to lay a role of solid all the way around and we are not done for addition to tighter restrictions on ornamental turf or sites are set on improving your occasion efficiency and reducingef evaporate if cooling. their headwinds on this journey including the reluctance of the business community to embrace conservation and metrics the value energy efficiency over saving water. her key advantages to recapture recovery virtually every drop of water with administrative support green if the structure through which we return water to lake mead are so important. we also encourage federal support for large-scale water recycling projects for communities without access to larger reservoirs. engaging my colleagues in other states it's clear they recognize the urgency of the situation and are ramping up their conservation efforts however and there's no way around this entities alone cannot address this crisis not because ofot indifference. because we simply don't use enough water to tip the scales. as in the cities the primary concern in the agricultural sector is grass. 80% of colorado river is used for agriculture and 80% and about 80% it's used for crops like alfalfa. i'm not suggesting farmers stopped farming that they consider crops was to make the investments needed to optimizeti irrigation efficiency. my view is i spend you can't improve the efficiency of those measures i stronglyy support the bill senate bill 2568 sponsored by senator senator cortez masto for this positionti will provide access to more consistent at grit water use data. by reducing the use of the colorado river water agricultural entities are protecting their own interests. if late meat reaches it the allocation will be further reduced. we can still meet critical needs because we have invested $1.4 billion in local funding to secure our access to water. however at the same elevation california arizona and mexico will be cut off entirely because water can escape from lake mead. we are 150 feet from 25 million americans losing access to the colorado river and the rate of decline is accelerating. the burden of shortage cannot be borne by any single community or sector rather i every user of the colorado river to follow her lead andnd do all they can to preserve what remains of the lifeblood of the southwest. our collective future depends on it. thank you for your time. >> thank you. now we have dr. hall. >> thank you chairman manchin ranking member russell and committee members for the chance to speak to on this most urgent issue. the mission is divide a vital earth for one and supporting water supply systems that provide the water we need for fish and other wildlife cities farms and rural communities. the commissioner mr. entsminger the chair have made clear the urgency is atai the moment so i will focus on things we can do to address this emergency. herr first major point is that e need the broadest portfolio tools we can assemble. this challenge isee too big for one single solution. thankfully wee have options. we have to manage for the rain and snow patterns that climate scientists tell us we are in for not forr, the patterns we long for. this means we have to adjust for less water use. our toolbox should indeed include targeted water supply enhancement. we must have an increased emphasis on tools for reducing the demand. we also need actions that directly respond to the compounding risk of climate change. in a word we must build resilience. their portfolio strategies needed including musical conservation reuse recycling water saving agricultural practices and includes infrastructure investment. these investments must extend to her long natural for structure our watershed streams rivers a knock or purse. i want to have that one specific strategy that deserves attention called multi-benefit land refreshing. this resilient strategy emerge from a huge collaboration with the range of partners in the san joaquin valley were even with some come client enhancement study suggests half a million to 1 million acres of agricultural land will have to come out of productionic because of the lack of a water supply. to avoid this devastating outcome the state of california has committed $50 millionau to launch an innovative new land or purchasing program. the intent is to steer transformation of the central valley toward a water resilient region by supporting the repurposing of reviews we are gated land in the most sake of vibrant land use that require less water if and provide needed benefits for the community benefits like habitat borders recreational space for families and recharge groundwater. the demand for this program from farmers and water managers is twice the funding weth have available only expect that demand demand to grow. this general concept is adaptable to other places with local collaboration stakeholders with different priorities can tailor this approach to address the unique cultural and economic conditions of their region. this brings me to my secondec major point and that is durable solutions will come from good-faith collaboration addressing the challenges we face or choir an unprecedented level of collaboration. we need to look at examples like the yakima river base and replicate end of the cinnamon as in yakima we can no longer be just a water agencies making decisions. we need m everyone's best ideas and perspectives and that includes the tribes to his advantage and rural communities with environmental interests.un my last point to accelerate and make that collaboration successful we need good information. this means supporting the long-standing efforts of federal programs like the usgs and nrc assembly need new tools like the platform. the drought conditions we are seeing today should be a blazing wake-up call for bold and innovative action. howard respond now will shape the future of the rural communities and agriculture acrossss the west and the econoc health and quality of life for the wholeit region. we stand ready to continue our collaborative efforts and the rangee of partners to meaningfully address the extreme drought in the west. thank you. >> thank you sir. now we have mr. o'toole. >> thank you mr. chairman senator barrasso appreciate the kind words and it's not an honor for me to be here. coming to the capitol and being in this building is truly amazing to me. the advantage of being further down the line after testimonies to be able to react a little bit and a couple of things occurred occurred -- we have heard that for years and years. i was on a federal water commissioner under president clinton 20 years ago. the answer was always take water away from agri poster. here's the reality. i've heard the word on president to use more times than i ever have in one session because we are involved t in a precedent tt situation.te we also are about to do with agriculture will we did manufacturing my big overseas. the numbers of food production coming to this country to take our markets has changed the fundamentals and what our farmers and ranchers are trying to do is figure out how to make it successful. my family started with my wife's great grandfather in texas to wyoming in 1881. we have been added along time and we've seen the ups and bat s the 30s with the drought in the creation of the conservation districts and in my respective representing the growers to grow every crop grown in the united states every livestock that comes from this country as members of the family armed and i can tell you to stress that our people are feeling is unprecedented to cut their families are under attack. iall you have to do is read the "l.a. times" or any of thoses" news papers. we can solve everything by demonizing farmers. it's got to stop because we are in an unprecedented lack of sustainability. the thing that breaks my heart the most is to hear a farmer or rancher say he did the children don't do this because there's no future in it. i've heard it too many times because of economics and because the water and the other inputs weot have. i do a lot of different things. i've been on federally owned farmlands for many years. i'm chairman of the group migratory birds in western states. we do conservation. it's it's unprecedented amount of conservation were doing. i 14 years as a legislator trying to prevent a reservoir that saved our local valley years ago and we are trying to build a second one. what we need to realize is there are impediments to our best wishes. this committee has a reputation for unanimous vote for people work together and that's been going on for a long time. we need a unanimous coordination of allowing the process to work. storage is going to be critically important in even more important in my mind the colorado river. the forests are broke and and i'll give all the compliments i can to the bureau of reclamation which i've worked for. other agencies ivories my entire person the national forest. it is dead and it's not generating water. the colorado river is not generating near what it should be because the forests aren't auctioning to do is take the lawsdo and efforts of those that have come through the reason i'm for structure bills and put them into place. i sunday with the major national group and conservation people talking about how we could redo the force so generates a kind of water. i last last week of the forest service in nature conservancy walking. an elephant couldn't walk through now. we need to empower those people to actually do what you will all set to do and that's the problem. we are not acting in the way we know how to act. it breaks their heart because we know what to do. senator larry hicks is probably the best implementer of policy in nine states with them sunday talking about frustration and it may sound but what covid is done in my world is where prisoners and appear chrissy. you have to allow the system to function and if there's one message coming from armors let us do what we do. we can't give up our production as we are in the process of doing. there are food riots in purview --th in peru. the american agriculture is as powerful as it's ever been in my message is farmers telling their children not to farm because there's no future in it. we have to turn that around. the food crisis that we think is a ukrainian, it's much more complicated in this thing going on for years ifs we don't act we won't have farmers and we won't have rural amenities. it's such an opportunity to me andni i appreciated and i'd be happy to answer any questions for they want to mention one thing about goshen county senator and that's the infrastructure that had to be replaced with built in 1902. the roosevelt, that's the infrastructure part and it's important we get down and do we know howow to do. thank you so much. >> thank you sir. mr. stern break chairman and members of the committee thank you for inviting mers to provide testimony in a western assays. i'm a special in national resource policies. my issue is a broader policy issue. we take no position on these issues. you know a multiyear drought remains widespread across many western states as some areas and extended period of extreme drought. in may 2023 april 2022 the second driest two-year period since 1895 in arizona california nevada new mexico and utah in the fifth driest period since 1895 in colorado. although the west has a long history of drought the geographically widespread nature of the current drought across the states iss notable. the federal defers to state local and tribal entities lead most government efforts to respond to drought. following a series of droughts in the 1990s congress enacted the national drought policy act in 1996 and created the national drought commission. 2000 the commission submitted to congress its report among other things noting united states need to embrace the drought policy and wasas prepared. the recommended congress establish a federal and nonfederal national drought counsel. congress enacted some of these recommendations for instance creating integratedra drought system within noah and 2006. other recommendations such as increased support for nonfederal drought rep for fairness were adopted mr. to play. job coordination efforts take several points that congress has enacted a range of authorities really to drought like federal financially. and neighbor culture production laws and other authorities that address to drought short and long-term drought response mitigation actions. multiple federal agencies continue to plan for and respond to drought. the 2000 national drought policy commission report identified 88 drought programs and this total is increased in increase in september addition on 2020 when congress appropriated those dollars to respond to drought including the new funding in disaster in supplemental appropriations for activities expected to improve drought monitoring preparedness and resiliency. he took expected lifetimes it will take several years before their effects are fully realize. outside of new funding resources, proposed other often interrelated actions to mitigate drought. it divides these proposes to planning and providing data and monitoring and demand management. with regard to planning and preparedness sum of highlighted the need for better coordination about programs for the biden demonstration is pointed out fema funding for drought planning in mitigation. integration is another point of emphasis by federal agencies. monitoring networks on going in they have the potential to strengthen the overall understanding of travel strengthen the early warning system. in terms of augmenting water supply congress 2016 enactment of the water structure improvement act authorized the reclamation finances for. these funds of supported studying construction and 13 projects across three western states withh more landing bendig diallocation. some support extension of this authority which is larger than used to support and nonfederal water storage projects. alternative water supplies such as water reuse recycling and desalinization is very federal support has facilitated development. he here adoptions very and are influenced by financial regulatoryry and political context. some in congress proposing crisper decision for multiple benefits for stakeholders or projects constructed in rural areas. groundwaters. storage aquifer recharge and other projects congress has enacted but not wanted the authority for reclamation project. federal supportt for other state and local efforts responding to drought including various efforts to manage demand for water during times of scarcity or areas of consideration. we discuss these and other options that are written testimony. i'd be pleased to address any questions you may h have at the appropriate time. >> thank you for testimonies. i understand senator kelly has to head up a hearing and if you will go ahead and start. seven thank you mr. chairman thank you mr. chairman and i thank everybody for being here today.on mr. moderna's good to see. i think with all established that this drought is unprecedented and understand from her testimony commission or the colorado river is facing a structural deficit to between two and 4 million-acre feet of water next year. but that amount in perspective for everybody in the room or anybody who is watching arizona's allocation colorado river water is 2.8 million-acre feet. california is 4.4 million coloradoif is 3.9 billion-acre feet from her could arizona as water rights in their allocation to the river. if our state absorbed this two to 4 million-acre feet lost it would wipe out deliveries, water deliveries to cities drives in farms in phoenix and tucson. this is certainly not in the public interest given our state'sic national role in ag strategic minerals and semi conductor manufacturing.mi you mentioned commissioner that reclamation is working with nascent states to develop a consensus agreement to conserve more water in in lake mead and lake powell by others. i want to make sure we understand your testimony. if states cannot reach an agreement is the department prepared to take action to impose restrictions on other states without regard to river priority? >> thank you for that question senator. we will protect the system. we are not at that position point n yet. let's get to the table and figure this out by august. >> when you anticipate you make it to that decision point? to>> august 24 study is where we determined what our operations are for the next calendar year. august 15 isgu the date where we have the first tier 1 announcement last year. that's who we are working a. >> all right thank you. arizona has been leading the basin in conserving water to date. farms are then followed tribes are for going their water rights allocations w and cities are tightening their budgets. we have worked to conserve nearly eight and 50,000 acre-feet in the lower basin in arizona has done everything that arizona has been asked. we will continue to step up here.a we need gardeners and long-term federalnts from the government because this is a case in my album not just an arizona problem. we laid the groundwork for increasing conservationwo and augmentation the bipartisan pressure cabela's past through fully funded programs like the drought contingency plan in the 500 plus plan to keep more water in lake mead. commissioners touton does california or the upper basin that they plan for how it will utilizes resources under the drought contingency plan? >> those are conversations that i'mre going including with california. >> so you don't know if they currently have a plan? >> there is a drought relief operations act that the upper basin has the could there be more consistent and management? yes. snapple the administration be pushing mexico to conserve more colorado river water? >> conversations we are having at their partners in mexico we are fully aware of what we are seeing on the river. there the partners we need to work with. >> commissioner kim the federal government move faster and deploying desalinization in water recycling projects under the bipartisan infrastructure law. >> yes, we will. >> and family and i might go over my 30 seconds i hope that's okay mr. chairman praised the new testimony arizona could see to -- tier 2 water curtailments as soon as next year the richer and the cutbacks last january that farmers in central arizona especially hard and if we don't invest more in conservation tomentation assistance farmers that could raise food prices at a time when food prices are at record high highs. the white house interagency drought task force recently called for a whole of government response. does reclamation have a cost estimate for the resources needed to mitigate future year shortages? >> that is something we are talking about now especially with the scalable we are looking at. what i will say senator is we need to makeo sure we are meetig the goals that congress intended to sustain viability was. >> whenes you get that cost estimate can you get office and appears to drought is outpacing the appropriations process right now. it's faster than we are appropriate in the money it. could you give back to me on how reclamation might benefit if congress expanded the stafford act for drought? >> yes, i woke get that too. >> thank you and thank you mr. chairman. >> senator barrasso. >> mr. o'toole thank you for the amazing opening statement. very emotional and it's hit every member of the panel and very grateful. i want to ask you about the impact on food costs that the drought has brought the kizzee make some suggestions. what we are seeing is a reduction in food supplies increasing costs for american families so to address this and provide more water wyoming continues to advocate verse things such such as walmart are stored to be more efficient and agriculture use rather than flow downstream and more flexibility from the brio and reservoir actions to better forecast data. do you agree with these steps and will it lead to more good production if we do those things? >> thank you for that question senator and are written testimonies you can tell it's full of specific recommendations about how we make these missouri. the thing i'd like to have the size though and let's look at the cattle and and assure that i'm involved in. the pricing going to the consumer is nothing to do with the. we are notot receiving the benet and what i think is a this ecological and incredible system that knows how to produce s food and do rural communities. i sat with senator bennett recently in what's happening in amazon is a crime against humanity. the doctor relies in places where this is happening we have to accelerate the benefits in the base benefits for the american population is the food supply. we are giving away her food supply capability and their i conditions from me alliance are specific things that this committee has recommended and things of that committee is recommended. we have to start implementing them predictors one message i have today its implementation. please there is no spare decor and bureaucracy right now. that's a result of covid in all kinds of things. the agencies have to have the abilitys. to direct activities that we all agree on to get done reand the permitting of the reservoir my community i'm very familiar with and so frustrating. meeting two times a week and a no-brainer process. the four services desperate to fix with a nose broken. 160,000 acre-feet doesn't go down the north platte river. we know that. we have to change that and that's the case with every watershed in the western unitedt states. will you talk to them in terms ofal the not seeing the increase prices but not having an impact. this past week in a list the 150th anniversary of the stop collars association in cheyenne this weekend. you go to the grocery stores prices upor on hamburger eggs ad milk and soup things that we codify so we areup seeing it. i want to get to the next question which is the tellico lapse and i've been to the site to let more than 100,000 acres of cropland in wyoming and nebraska without water significantly impacting farmers and ranchers of both states and that's why at a introduce this bill s. 4233 the platte river racing critical maintenance and repair act to secure funding to address this. do you agree that drought underscores the need for addressing lots of aging at the structures such as what we saw in the ear gauging district collapsed? .. but it's a bigger issue than that. it's a bigger issue with american farmers and food production and what is done is moved ahead and trends that were happening without this climate and climate whatever is happening to us is so different. it's trends that have been happening and as you know i've testified before one the need fr storage, and given from my heart, it's not happening. it's not happening at the pace americans deal with crisis. we are crisis managers in america and this committee is a crisis management committee. it's so critical being implemented. >> many of the actions taken in the past to address the drought in the colorado river basin were to increase the flexibility in how the lower basin states can store and use water. this is done using existing authorities that increased flexibility is extended the lower basin access to water and available water supplies over the last 20 years. what comparable increase is the bureau considering or pursuing for the upper basin states like wyoming in terms of what mr. o'toole talked about in operation of the federal reservoirs? >> on the aging infrastructure, your report and legislation at the framework for what we find is at the top of mind for us at reclamation. regarding flexibility, cap it's a conversation we are having with the states. one of the flexibilities we had under the obligation to act is to move down to lake powell. so there are conversations that need to be had and it's not reclamation telling the states what to do. it has to be what is it you need to come here is my authority ended we don't have the ability to do that to have a conversation with the committee. >> thank you. i will go now very quickly. this is to all five of you and if you can think as quickly as you can because we only have five minutes what role should congress have going forward? you've been very interactive some of the things you've said that it doesn't make sense, so if we could start if you could tell me what you think we could do and help you do the job better to make sure the western drought doesn't get worse but improve? >> thank you to the committee for the investment of $8.3 million, for the investment storage is roughly equivalent of this administration that the previous administration invested so we invested $461 million of storage alone. resources are always of assistance but it's having -- >> how quickly will the money be invested? >> some of it we've already put out. there's some projects we are working on as an example of it. >> i think congress needs to make massive investments in agricultural efficiencies. i agree with mr. o'toole that we need to prioritize food and can't balancewe the structural deficit by evacuating cities, so we are going to need to make our ability to grow the same amount of food with less water a priority. >> doctor hall. >> i think certainly one of the more urgent issues is providing the information that we need and that includes continuing robust support at the management of data systems and approving senator cortez mass does well to implement. and i think more broadly, the support for giving the bureau of reclamation the broad flexibility to work with states on new approaches like groundwater management and storage. >> mr. stern. >> as you know we wouldn't necessarily recommend any specificne approach but i would say that there is more support among the observers for activities that can be done from the ground up and stakeholder driven that may vary from one base into the next then there is for top-down more command and control type of federal activities. >> mr. o'toole, do you have anything you want to add, something that you think would be the most urgent thing that we can do? >> i testified in front of the world bank last year as part of the climate meetings i went to the end of the biggest word that they appreciated was scale. in a meeting with major foundations sunday they said we are nibbling and that is the problem, nibbling at the time we have crisis and we need to move to scale. >> the bipartisan infrastructure provides 8.3 billion as you've acknowledged. what steps are we taking to ensure the delivery that is what we are concerned about being delivered to the source so we can make sure to secure the problems we have. >> first we hire the hires. we hired, i want to get the number right for the record but 86 people within the last six months. engineers, acquisitions, granta specialists so we can get the money out and part of this is a level of transparency. we constantly have stakeholder sessions and briefings with congress so that you know what we are doing and finally putting capacity where we can immediately so those can get done. rural water being an example of that and getting the resources at the door. at the eastern side of my state gets a tremendous amount of rain at the western side is the stopping point. so, we face intense drought in the west and we are growing tall timber in the east. let me walk through a couple of thingsgs. from east to west in these areas at all of being explored as options and possibilities? howll much of that is even being discussed? >> we are looking at all options to utilize what we have within the reservoir that is a priority. a loadr of the project's requird authorization with a feasibility study so should that be aware congress wants us to go that is what we will do but we will say what we have now and what is in the basins. >> it's interesting to me that in the past we had to have an act of congress to move water from within my state because it was a differentff reclamation area. it wasn't crossing any other state boundary or violating the states around us moving it east to west took an act of congress to move that. isng that something that needs o stay in place to become a regulatory barrier that we need to resolve? >> i'm happy to continue the conversation, senator. >> we've experienced both on that. in the southwest part of my state one of thehe challenges tt we have is power related as well. to reduce the amount of water it's a great idea and we have to have electricity. in the written document about water management becoming too inflexible as well as the hydrologic doubt this seems to beep an area where you talk abot the drought not talking about the bureaucracy the changes are disturbing to us. it wasn't as friendly as it could be so with the duplicate of agency with fish and wildlife service. do you have birds and fish and other mammals and farmers out of the whole system when is it isn't working because of the regulatory process. >> we need to change to make thatrk work. >> we spent three years working on the process with a cross-section but we didn'tge gt it done but we have to have a system that works out right now we have so much duplication and to some extent her death what i like to talk about is are we doing solutions or agendas so we've got to figure out what are the solutions and overcome the agendas and toen some extent the litigation industry has been very effective keeping us for example cleaning up the forests. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, chairman. as you know the western states areno suffering from and you wil notice i didn't say drought but extreme wildfires as we speak. this isn't a random event. it's a direct result of the lack of action on climate that we've seen for more than 20 years and we collectively owned that. as you know this is a drought hearing but we've experienced a drought before. what you and others on the panel said what we are experiencing is now actually unprecedented. t i would make the point that it's not a drought. you use the word reunification. what did that mean and how do we manage if this is the new normal? >> thank you, senator. you make an exceptionally important point and i think one thing we have to realizeal is tt we don't know how this is going to evolve. we have to be aware continuously adaptive and that gets to the point i was describing about collaboration that addresses some of the points about regulation and you can work together in an organized way to come up with programs and then figure out how to make them work with the different various regulations. >> so on the point of the unification, we have in the past tended t to view the water management through the t lens of stability. i had one entire class work on the different distributions, normal and non-normal distributions of the climate past and that's what we did all of the signs on. the class as difficult as it was is no longer even useful. we have to throw all that out and increase our real-time monitoring and information processing and be prepared to make adjustments as we discover how the new claimant processes are affecting thee water resources. i want you to share with us again how many acres we have to conserve on the colorado river basin to avoid deadpool and lake powell. because most people don't really understand what it is, talk about how much water that is. >> it's what it sounds like, an acre of land with a foot of waterk and the way we look at that, it's enough water 325,000 gallons for a family of four for an entire year so when you look at lake powell and lake mead this is for critical elevations, 2 million to 4 million starting in 2023 that we need to conserve. we've talked a lot about the colorado river basin. talk about the rio grande basin and what you're seeing and what actions you're able to take to address the same patterns experienced. >> it's not unique to the colorado n river basin. demand is of the system tribal ecosystem and irrigation drought as well as listed species. one of the things we did was a water smart grant sending 1.8 million on inefficiencies in the system. youon asked me for numbers. it's roughly 9,000 acre-feet of conserved water so that's real water inefficiencies so that's a short-term and we are looking at operational flexibilities and helping to solve long-standing conflicts. >> thank you. >> now we have senator lee. >> let's start with you. the drought has caused a lot of problems in my home state in utah as is happening in some other places but a pretty accurate degree in utah they delay putting livestock on the range. growth of course has been impacted by the a lot of local economies being stretched thin byue virtue of their inability o access lake lake powell. i appreciate the recent actions and decisions made by the bureau of reclamation to boost water levels at lake powell including of course the release of 500,000 from the reservoir and the additional 480,000 downriver. what can you tell me about the p bureau's priorities moving forward as they relate to the water levels of lake powell? >> thank you and good morning. we have a great partnership with the state of utah. one of the principles that we work with in the basin states what we are prioritizing right now is short-term. what actions make up the two to 4 million to help protect lake mead and lake powell because all the actions you mentioned that we did this year we cannot be in the same place next year when we talk about the critical levels to protect so we are spending a significant amount of time and this is a priority in the next 60 dayss to figure out a plan to close the gap. >> i've done a lot of work on reform, policy reforms and i agree these are essential to make sure that we can do what we need to do. asas i've engaged in that effort it's become apparent that some members resist changes and the responses are usually kind of interesting. they include a variation of the argument that we don't need to do this because the agencies already have authority to do this through their own existing rulemaking procedures. it's an interesting argument to make it especially because regardless what they've got and the fact they may have tools at their disposal to do it, they don'tt because things don't change in this regard. i think they are debilitated by a fear of litigation and while understandable it makes it very unlikely that they impose these limitations on themselves. what doem you believe congress needs too do to break the logj? >> thank you, sir. a categorical exclusion is another part of the process that gives flexibility to the agencies. the river that i live on crosses the state. so i'm in two forests, to game e and fish, tosh wildlife's. as i expressed earlier the agency people need to have a message and we are going to send money. i have the best conservation district in the u.s. currently so lucky, giving an example 17% because we have trust and use categorical exclusion. the surrounding is asking for how you get that done because you don't have the agency people have experience with and because of the litigation issue that you mentioned, it's inhibiting our ability to do what we've all agreed we need to do. >> at the data collection has become a point of emphasis by some federal agencies in recent years. some proposals would go so far as to use satellites to quantify evaporation. i've heard some concerns raised by some agricultural producers while it has a potential to help it could create other problems. do you share those concerns and do you feel there are protections that could be offered to the agricultural producers to protect their interests while allowing for better data collection? >> i'm a fan of data and science but i will tell you my friend is in the process of negotiations with the farm alliance over the issues because of the potential misuse of the data and i want the data to do the right thing but we've got to have some protections because as you all know, farmers seem to be describing the model for individual businesses, families mostly we can't stand the vulnerability of litigation. i've had it happen to me in a situation where we want, they defended the service but an individual is so vulnerable and one thing we never talk about, bankers don't care about conservation. they don't care about these issues they care about getting paid and plan one individual producer gets a demonized because of the use of data we want to make sure that saddam in a way that there's protections fored those individual family producers. >> senator king. >> thank you mr. chairman. absolutely important hearing. first, this is a cycle. and i didn't develop it but i found an interesting chart that shows the situation in the west overti the last 1200 years and what it shows is up and down and we are at the second lowest point that we've been the last was around 1500. interestingly o the west was settled into develop during a period of relatively high water and wewe are now in a situation where we are at thisit low poin. one of the questions historically they lasted about 20 years. the question is is the climate change affect going to make it a more permanent kind of situation but i would like to submit this chart for the record. >> without objection. >> second observation, it's constant. it never changes, since the dinosaurs. the question is where is it. unfortunately right now it's in a lot of places it doesn't do you any good and greenland i've flown over in a helicopter and have seen an enormous amount of water. in one day last summer 8 billio. that's enough to cover florida and 2 inches of water and at the question isio how do we move war ovand as the senator asked the interesting question about pipelines, obviously from greenland it isn't possible but from other sections in the country i think that is something that needs to be discussed. it's not something we thought about before but we have pipelines for oil and gas and in some areas huge pipelines for transferring water into new york state downo to the city. we have to talk about all that water in greenland that's freshwater going into the ocean so i guess how feasible and economically viable from the pacific southwest into this region to alleviate this problem? is that just fantasy or is that a possibility that is something weld could invest in and it coud make a difference? >> as a water resource engineer i will tell you that we like to build things and we have studied lots of possibilities and some we've implemented. some were good ideas. some turned out to be not so good ideas and some are just not cost-effective so with respect to pipelines, that cost issue is certainly a big one. some of the most expensive water in the west on the order of $2,000 an acre comes from the plant that was recently completed i think in the last five years or so at carlsbad in san diego and at the end of the colorado river water distribution -- >> also adjacent to the ocean. >> with in fact an already existing outfall to help dispose of the brian at a lower cost, it made sense as a part of a resilience portfolio. and in some other targeted areas it does make sense. >> but to reach the kind of scale to release this will region isn't really feasible is that your suggestion? >> at this time it is not feasible. >> andki interestingly looking t the chart, the drought sections are surrounded on both sides by more water, excessive precipitation that suggests senator barrasso talked about storage, but a lotst of storage. a couple of years won't really solve it if we are talking about 20 to 40 year cycles so storage as part of the problem, part of the solution, isn't it? >> certainly storage can be valuable and a helpful tool in making the deployment of the water more flexible. in most of the west frankly there isn't enougher water to fl the storage. >> but i'm talking about in the 80s, which if we could have captured that and held it for 20 years it might have helped. but me ask not a question but just in observation, fascinating experiment going on in california now building solar panels over canals which will generate electricity but also diminish evaporation. if you could build a solar farm on top of lake powell you could supply electricity for all of the west and diminish the enormous water loss to evaporation. i'm not ready to undertake that project but i think we've really got to think in new and different ways because as many people say this is unprecedented in the last 500 years. thank you all for your testimony. >> senator cortez masco. >> let me think the chair and ranking member for the conversation today and what we are talking about is drought along the west and we have the benefit of so many of you that have knowledge about the colorado river and i want to start there because in nevada the colorado river is very important for our needs in the state. i want too put this in perspective because there's been a lot of talk about the water if we are just talking about the water along the colorado river it really follows the law of the river that was implemented in 1920 along the seven basin states and how they would allocate that water and share it because quite honestly if you want more water you are taking it from some other state and so there was an agreement. can you talk to me how much water is nevada allocating out of that? >> our location is 300,000 acre-feet. >> the lowest among all the states? >> yes by far if you add up the seven states in mexico and the 1.8% of the river. >> and then over a million would have to go to mexico as well along the colorado river so because of the lowest allocation we have 3 million people in the state, talk a little bit about what they did in early 2000 to address the water needs of the people including across the state butat particularly southen southernnevada where we have moe population. what does the water authority do because conservation is key and it plays a great role in the story of what we've done to augmentwe some of the water. would you talk a little bit about that? >> absolutely. i am as big of a fan as anybody else if there is a solution but what we've seen the last 20 years it's all about conservation and demand management and our wake-up call came in 2002 when only 25% came into beginning in 2002, we upped our water smart landscape program and paid three dollars per square foot per people to remove turf and as i mentioned in my opening i would take 18-inch wide piece of solid all the way the circumference of the globe. we have very strict water waste enforcement and a structure so that those who use more water pay more for it and use those funds to fund the conservation programs and overall it's led to a dramatic decline in water usage as i said we were using 26% less colorado river water today fan we were in 2002 despite the population increased by 800,000 people. >> and how many years in the future do you anticipate we will need water. talk a little bit about that in nevada and las vegas in dire need of water right now or you're planning for the future with population growth included in that is that correct? >> that's correct. we do a 50 year resource plan every single year so that we always have a fresh outlook on what we think the population isk going to do. we projected an increase from 2.4 million today to about 3.8 million in 76 so we are always looking out into the future and we then match up what we have to accomplish and conservation to be able to accommodate that population growth with again the small water supply on the river so we arema right now using about 112 gallons per person per day and project we need to continue to drive that down to 86 gallons by 2035 inpe order to be able to accommodate that growth. >> and that includes back in august of 2021 and i think the commissioner referred to this there was a shortage condition that required us to allocate less water, reduce the water consumption by how much? >> by 20,000 because of the conservation efforts. the shortest declaration doesn't mean you have to use less water reduced from 300,000 to 279,000 but we only used 242. so because of two decades worth of preparation and conservation planning we did not have to have our customers reduce the amount of water they used last year. >> one final thing we are landlocked so what else do we need to think about to address the water needs in the western states particularly along the colorado river right now? >> we need tora help all of our friends and partners to continue on their conservation journey. as you know with the bipartisan infrastructure law there's funding for the major regional recycling facility in southern california and at that as an example of across state lines cooperation and i think a model for other things that need to be done but every user in every sector needs to be planning for how they will take care of their share. >> is there a user doing just that? >> not yet. >> any additional questions? mr. o'toole, i believe building more water storage is going to get other states the water they need to provide system resiliency and also maintain stream flows into benefit fish and wildlife. what do you believe are the associated benefits of the storage projects? >> for example the project i talked about in the community is a two state project as i described earlier so as you know better than anybody the endangered species act having thees flexibility of migratory birds for example working on the endangered fish and safety valves and having storage to reduce later i hope this doesn't sound bold but i couldn'tsc have told you what was going to happen to me in lake powell because you were not seeing the springs. the springs are drying up so i'm putting in solar wells and panels and doing everything i can do. you can have all the grass in the world but if young don't hae water you can't learn livestock so such multiple benefits and part of those is protection. when i'm with my grand kids i running around and we see migratory birds excited as we are about the genetics of our livestock because we realize we are in a system and of the idea of watersheds with small storage at the tops that takes away the issue talked about with losing water from heat into those issues, so high mountain storage watershed. >> what did they invest and look for more water storage opportunities in wyoming in the upper basin states as we just heard? >> yes. >> senator king, you have one more question? >> i wanted to mention you also store electricity potentially if you have a hydro associated so that is another benefit. evaporation, how big of a problem is evaporation and a large lake like lake powell or lake mead and are there technologies? i'm looking for the information. plastic non-toxic chemicals that would diminish or eliminate evaporation or is it not worth worrying about? my sense is that it's a big number. >> it's a hugee number between the lakes you're talking about almost 2 million acres every year so to put that in context they evaporate more from the reservoirs in las vegas uses in seven years. >> is there anybody on the panel that might know are there people thinking about the technology of limiting and diminishing evaporation or is this something that somethingwe have to live w? >> may be one of the other witnesses is aware of something i'm not at the retail level all of the reservoirs in las vegas are underground and we've seen in other places ping-pong balls can float on top of the watered that radically reduce evaporation but those are all pretty small scale talking about reservoirs that go on for hundreds of miles across state lines so i don't have the technology to stop that. >> any thought given how to diminish large-scale? >> when wes. talk about evaporation from plants it's a really important question in our overall water balance and in fact living in northern new mexico and seeing the fires i realize very keenly how much the management of the forest makes a difference and there's lots of work going on to better understand how it can reduce transfer from the forest and watersheds and provide other benefits and improved habitat and recreational experiences et cetera so to the point of mr. o'toole's diminishment, that's somethinghm we are seeing across the west and undoubtedly higher evaporation rates that are going to happen when you have higher temperatures as part of that issue so to the point of investing in the natural infrastructure, looking at the forest management very carefully and implementing the right management for the forests and frankly to improve the water yield and provide other benefits is a really important thing to invest in and get figured out andnv moving on. i hope this may be an area of research. you're doing a lot of practical things and it may be we should be talking to the department of energy but your office may s be the right place to think about what are some scalable technologies to reducet evaporation which we've learned is a very significant number if you could save enough water by controlling evaporation of the two, that would be a substantial when.. so, research it seems is a place that we could do some good here. this is the open transfer data act that i introduced into the information is already there. why is that important as we talk about evaporation, water usage. >> thank you, senator. my vision of the future includes a resilient agricultural community. some of theme most rewarding tis at the professional event when i'm working withfe farmers and ranchers are really in colorado more recently in the background we have to manage that more closely and to do that we need good information on how much water is being used by the crops and how much is infiltrating into the ground and information on the consumptive use is a key part of better understanding that. to know the information hasn't been available it's a technology that's established in a systematic way for decades we felt it was important to put that into the hands of everyone who makes water management decisions from the irrigation on the farms, water district managers, groundwater basin managers and to make it easily accessible and more easily accessible to the states et cetera and that's what the open platform does. it puts the data into the hands ofes everyone so that we can ben looking at the same data, diminish the arguments about whether it's that a little bit better this is a little bit better and converge on a piece of information that we can all use and understand how it's affecting the water decisions that we make. >> and the idea that it's available to everyone including farmers and ranchers. >> let me just say thank you for being here because i work very closely with the farmers and ranchers in nevada and i found theyey are better than a some of those that have been at the table because they have to be. they know the land so well, they've lived it,li they flipped off of it and they respect it so make suree here is to the data that already exists is also in the hands of the ranchers and farmers so that theyey can utilize it to their benefit as well. anything else? >> we are firm believers you can't manage what you can't measure. this will give us the tools to measure where the water is consumed and how something like that can be deployed on the ground. our own studies figured out the type of turf that has been installed in the las vegas valley uses 73 gallons of water per square foot each year but then we found other species they use 55 gallons per square foot per year so even in places where we want to have grasses which isn't very many places because it's las vegas but in the schools and parks we can replace that with less consumptive uses. >> senator wyden. >> this will be a question for you, doctor hall led me set the table here. the summer begins next week and half my state is already suffering extreme or severe drought. seventeen counties are declared in a state of emergency because of water shortages. this is the first time a county has been in a drought emergency three years in a row. now, drought conditions have been so bad for 18 straight months that the reservoir the primary source for just a jefferson county set record close for months. now the commissioner knows where the lack of water is devastating the farms into the tribal resources and causing residential wells to run dry. and on top of this the first responders and experts on the ground i expect that the drought conditions are going to fuel beyond even the historically bad conditions of the past couple of years. you talked eloquently about the need for collaboration, good-faith collaboration because that is how you bring people together to tackle these challenges. in oregon it is the oregon way. the best ideas are those that have broad buy-in from all of those that are actually impacted. i wrote as a watershed result act to encourage people to come together to expand and improve watershed opportunities looking back at both agriculture and environmental needs. specifically the legislation would fund private projects to improve the drilled watersheds into these pilot projects use the best available science and would identify quantifiable outcomes before they were able to secure funding. so what are your thoughts with respect to the science-based collaborative approaches? >> thank you very much, senator and i applaud your efforts to bring good science into the decision-making through the watershed result act. efas i described before, i think the concept of bringing the best minds together, bringing all the ideas from the different stakeholders together inde a dynamic and collaborative way is the way we will shape the future of the west that we want to see and we need good information for that. the quicker we can get on the same page and understand the challenges that we are facing and the current situation and trajectory, the more quickly we can get to solving problems. a handful of things that i think are important in our work where we need better science and data is in the area of proactive groundwater management. we have an infrastructure below the ground that frankly provides the drinking water and water supply for most of the west and we can better understand that if we invest in the right data and begin to use that more proactively. another issue is short-term forecasting. we have better information now about how what's going to happes not just today but over the next several days and knowing that sooner allows us to make better decisions on the reservoir operationss and improve the yied of the projects we have in place. >> one question for you, commissioner. you have a lot of experience with water issues. the bipartisan infrastructure law provided $8.3 billion for its assessments and western water infrastructure and climate resilience. i'm not sure i guess my colleagues have touched on it but i'm not sure it's clear in the world what steps the bureau of reclamation is taking to ensure the best possible efficiency in the delivery ofiv the funds to get good science out there to manage the water management in our part of the world. >> thank you, senator. one of the things weor did this year that i've mentioned this to hire the hires and the people that can get out the grants to specialize in acquisitions and inhigher engineers and so we staffed i think 86 people just to be able to implement, building to get the funds out the door. certainly transparency in the plans talking with congress about the path forward to communicate with everyone across the board certainly on friday we have the privilege of breaking ground on 100 million-dollar safety investments in california to celebrate the 120th anniversary and we are coming to yellowstone and montana to do the same thing. >> thank you. were you finished? >> i want to bore my colleagues but when i came to the senate a bit after i arrived with a better idea for letting the government work to cross agencies and the private sector on watersheds and when i got there,h the chairman of the committee said we are in this good idea but we ought to correct it people said this approach is a brilliant idea and i i turned to my staff and i sad i don't know what the wyden amendment is and it's now being used across jurisdictions as a senior republican to help a very new senator who wanted to do the right thing and work with people. if there is hope on these watershed issues and drought because it does cross party lines. let's get together and get it done. >> the largest is 320 megawatts, so this is something i think we ought to think about and you have 2,000 miles of canals, nice place for a solar project. >> i'm happy to follow-up with you, senator. >> one last question talking about bipartisan, the bipartisan infrastructure law included appropriations foror implementig the river drought contingency plans. $50 million and the appropriationon was designated r the contingency plans and comply build infrastructure investments and related efforts to advance implementations and the planet of the list to the bureau in january. can you give an update on the status of providing the funding for the investments? >> we can give you a more detailed update. >> i also would introduce to the record from the american farm bureau survey historic drought is having devastating consequences for farmers and ranchers into the american farm bureau surveyed 50% of respondents in my home state so they expect crop yields to be up 50% or more due to the drought and without objection i will submit this for the record otherwise i want to thank all of you and all the witnesses for joining us today. this morning members may put some questions to you in writing and they will have until the close of business tomorrow to submit additional questions for the record. withou that, the committee stans adjourned. >> [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] to advance the bill will take place thursday. >> i rise today at a time in which families in arizona and across america are scared. for too long they see in unacceptable levels inti the communities. and it threatens their sense of safety and security. the mornaf