Senate panel lines up action on water infrastructure bills

By Jennifer Yachnin | 09/09/2024 06:31 AM EDT

Several of the bills focus on the embattled Colorado River system.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton will testify this week on a roster of Western water bills. Francis Chung/POLITICO

A Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee will focus this week on federal water infrastructure, as it reviews a host of bills addressing the Colorado River Basin and other waterways.

The Subcommittee on Water and Power will meet Wednesday on 16 separate bills and hear testimony from Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton.

A half-dozen of the measures on tap are related to the Colorado River, which supports some 40 million individuals across seven Western states.

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The Biden administration is currently leading negotiations over a new long-term operating agreement on the river, which has been decimated by more than two decades of drought.

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