Denver — Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper called on President Biden to prioritize funding for the Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) in his budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25). The AVC is a planned 130-mile water-delivery system from the Pueblo Reservoir to nearly 40 rural communities and 50,000 Coloradans throughout the Arkansas River Valley in Southeast Colorado.
“Increased investment is vital for fulfilling the long overdue promise of the AVC,” wrote the senators. “Additional funding from the President’s FY25 budget will help leverage the historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, along with state and local funding, to accelerate the project’s completion.”
Many 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.
Bennet and Hickenlooper have consistently advocated for increased funding for 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 Bennet and Hickenlooper’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 Biden administration has already directed $160 million to this project from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but the senators urge robust and sustained commitments from BOR to meet this decades-long need.
The text of the letter is available HERE and below.
Dear President Biden:
Thank you for your recent visit to Pueblo, Colorado to highlight historic investments in American infrastructure. To continue the spirit of investing in America, we write to request increased funding for Colorado’s Arkansas Valley Conduit (AVC) project in your budget for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25). We ask that you include in your request to Congress at least $15 million to support the AVC, a crucial clean drinking water project that starts in Pueblo and extends eastward for 130 miles to Lamar, Colorado.
A priority for Coloradans for the past six decades, the AVC is the final phase of the Fryingpan Arkansas Project, a water diversion and storage project authorized by Congress in 1962. Many communities that the AVC would serve rely entirely on groundwater, with several facing water contamination from naturally-occurring radioactive elements, or radionuclides. Upon its completion, 50,000 people in nearly 40 communities living in southeastern Colorado will finally have access to clean drinking water.
Increased investment is vital for fulfilling the long overdue promise of the AVC. We sincerely appreciate the $160 million your administration has already directed to this project from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but urge robust and sustained commitments from the Bureau of Reclamation’s Water and Related Resources account to meet this decades-long need. Additional funding from the President’s FY25 budget will help leverage the historic investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, along with state and local funding, to accelerate the project’s completion. We greatly appreciate the $10.1 million included in the President’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget and hope to work further to continue robust investments in this critical project to finally secure safe drinking water to tens of thousands of Coloradans.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. We look forward to our continued work together and the completion of the AVC.
Sincerely,