Water Monitoring and Tracking Essential Resources (Water) Data Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, my gratitude to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Lee), my distinguished colleague, for her leadership on this particular issue, her leadership in the Colorado River Caucus over the course of these last several years as the Upper Basin and Lower Basin States grapple with a historic drought, as was articulated.

I could not say it any better than she did as to the bipartisan approach that she and others are championing here in the United States Congress. I am proud to add this particular piece of legislation to that approach. Of course, my gratitude to Chairman Westerman and Ranking Member Grijalva for their consideration of this important bill.

I have the honor and the privilege of representing the great State of Colorado in the United States Congress, and the headwaters of the Colorado River are in my district. In Colorado, we know how important it is to preserve, protect, and strengthen these critical water resources and how important data is to that effort, which is why this bill is so important.

As has been explained by both the chairman and Representative Lee, the Federal priority streamgage network is a federally funded network of streamgages to measure streamflow information for forecasting, flood and drought planning, water-quality monitoring, and more. The national groundwater resources monitoring network is a collaborative network that serves a similar purpose.

At the end of the day, the improved water estimation, measurement, and monitoring technologies programs provide grants to develop and implement new technologies and methodologies to measure water resources data. Each of these programs, I can certainly tell you, Mr. Speaker, is a valuable source of information for water users across the State of Colorado, across the Upper Basin States, the Lower Basin States, and, indeed, across the Rocky Mountain West.

It is critical these efforts be supported and authorized, which is why I am proud to sponsor this important bipartisan legislation.

It is a simple bill, a noncontroversial bill, one that I hope will earn the support of every Member of this august body, and I certainly look forward, after the House has considered it, to getting it across the finish line with our partners in the Senate, Senator Lummis and Senator Hickenlooper, of course, from the great State of Colorado.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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