Legislation to protect Colorado River starts journey through Congress
Lake Havasu on the Colorado River is formed by the Parker Dam (Photo by Doc Searles)
Tucson, Ariz.—The Environmental Protection Agency would be responsible for protecting water quality in the Lower Colorado River if a bill introduced by Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., is passed by Congress and gets the President’s approval.
The Lower Colorado River Protection Act, introduced July 31 went forward this week to the House Natural Resources Sub-committee on Water and Power this for consideration.
The Act would create a program overseen by the EPA that protects water quality in the Lower Colorado River by developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to prevent and eliminate pollution and maintain a healthy Lower Colorado River ecosystem.
“The habitat along the Colorado River has been altered by dams, human interference, and non-native plant and animal species,” said Grijalva in a release. “The effects of the massive population growth in the Southwest have threatened the Lower Colorado River. The bill will work to reduce the destruction to the River and thereby protect it from future damage.”
Grijalva spokesperson Natalie Luna said it was Grijalva’s hope to start something long overdue. “His constituency came to the Congressman looking for help,” Luna said. “The reason he introduced it is it’s an area that’s been long neglected.” She added that Grijalva is someone in the Arizona delegation who is actually doing something.
“Water quality on the Lower Colorado River is inexorably linked to the quality of the water that flows down from the Upper Basin region,” Colorado River Indian Tribes’ Chairman Eldred Enas told the House Committee on Natural Resources May 27. “The health of the whole river system, the Upper and Lower Colorado River can only be assured through oversight and coordinated management by federal authorities.”
Enas told the Committee that the Colorado River’s water quality was critical to the tribe’s future, to their way of life. He specifically cited issues of over-allocation of Colorado River water, contamination issues such as those raised at the Topock clean up site, and the inefficient usage of river water due to non-modernized irrigation systems.
The Colorado River is the major water resource in the arid Southwest. It supplies drinking water for more than 25 million people and irrigates over 80 percent of winter vegetables consumed in the United States. The river and its tributaries are home to many rare and unusual species.
© Indian Country Today
