WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet urged the Senate Appropriations Committee to increase funding for the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) in the Fiscal Year 2025 spending bill. In their letter, the senators requested increased funding in line with the $13 million proposed in the Biden administration’s budget. This increase comes after the senators sent a letter to President Biden earlier this year encouraging additional support for the AVC in the President’s Budget Request.
“Colorado water providers have worked to finish the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project since Congress first authorized it,” wrote the senators. “Annual funding, in line with our $13 million funding request for FY25, will help shorten the Conduit’s construction timeline and expand Coloradans’ access to a secure and safe supply of water.”
More than 50,000 Coloradans in 39 communities in the Arkansas River Valley rely entirely on groundwater and several face water contamination from naturally-occurring radioactive elements. The AVC is the final phase of the Fryingpan Arkansas Project and would connect these communities with clean drinking water.
Hickenlooper and Bennet have consistently advocated for increased funding for the AVC. Last week, Hickenlooper met with local ranchers, farmers, and producers and discussed the rollout of the AVC. In July 2023, the senators welcomed $100 million in funding from the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to expedite the construction of the AVC after they urged BOR to consider allocating additional funding for the system. Following Hickenlooper and Bennet’s call to the Senate Appropriations Committee last March to continue to fund the project, the Fiscal Year 2024 budget included $10.1 million for the AVC.
The text of the letter is available HERE.
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