Strategic Approach and New Investments for Addressing Water Supply Challenges for Producers in the West
The Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action is a comprehensive, multi-state strategy under USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to address key water and land management challenges across 17 Western States.
SALINA, KANSAS, May 2, 2023‒As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to making Western communities more resilient to the impacts of drought and climate change, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced new investments and strategies to help farmers and ranchers conserve water, address climate change, and build drought resilience in the West, which is supported in part by funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
The Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action is a comprehensive, multi-State strategy under USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to address key water and land management challenges across 17 western States. This is the latest NRCS-issued Framework for Conservation Action, all of which provide direction, support, and coordination to address resource concerns and threats across State boundaries and to leverage new scientific tools to guide strategic program implementation on the ground. The Framework includes guidelines for identifying vulnerable agricultural landscapes and 13 strategies to help NRCS State leaders, water resource managers, and producers respond to priority challenges.
Guided by this new framework, the EQIP WaterSMART Initiative will invest $25 million in three new priority areas and 37 existing priority areas in order to assist communities and producers in the West.
“Climate change is taking an enormous toll on farmers and ranchers in the West. Record-breaking drought and exhausted water supplies are hurting agricultural operations and entire communities,” said Eric A. Allness, Kansas NRCS Acting State Conservationist. “WaterSMART investments are being directed where they can have the most impact and the new Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action lays the foundation for helping producers and communities address the pressing climate challenges and build resiliency for the future. Complemented by investments from the IRA, USDA is utilizing this framework and all available tools to deliver assistance demanded by the severity of the water supply challenges in the West.”
NRCS-leveraged stakeholder feedback from a public listening session, input from the Area and Field Offices, as well as the latest scientific data will shape and inform the framework.
NRCS Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action
Agricultural producers steward more than two-thirds of the Nation’s land resources. Water flows through these lands into reservoirs that supply communities with water. In many areas of the dry West, producers are struggling to irrigate their crops due to inadequate precipitation. In these areas, water supply is impacted by drought, increasing demand, and climate change.
NRCS has identified six major water and working land management challenges resulting from threats to the water supply in the West:
- Forecasting water supply.
- Sustaining agricultural productivity.
- Protecting groundwater availability.
- Protecting surface water availability.
- Managing and restoring rangelands and forestlands.
- Responding to disruptions from catastrophic events.
For each of these major management challenges, opportunities exist to help individuals, entities, and communities to better manage water and working lands, conserve natural resources, and build resilience to drought and climate change. Strategies include:
- Improve the reliability of water supply forecasts.
- Improve soil moisture and irrigation water management.
- Improve water and nutrient management in crop fields and pastures.
- Modernize water infrastructure.
- Improve community water supply by completing watershed projects.
- Increase the reuse of wastewater for agriculture and conservation.
- Prolong aquifer life.
- Complete managed aquifer recharge projects.
- Reduce surface water withdrawals.
- Install conservation systems that protect water quality.
- Restore and protect streams and wetlands.
- Manage and restore rangelands and forestlands.
- Increase resilience during disaster recovery.
NRCS will use this framework to set comparable goals for effective program delivery, as well as to coordinate and track the progress on helping individuals, entities, and communities across the West to address their management, conservation, and resiliency needs.
From 2020 to 2022, more than $410 million of annual conservation assistance was provided by NRCS to producers and helped to address drought in the West. Now, with the new Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action in place, NRCS can further leverage the tools and coordination to build upon these investments and expand support by advancing innovative targeting at the State, local, and regional levels, while also utilizing additional funds from the IRA that advance both climate mitigation and Western water priorities.
WaterSMART Initiative
The $25 million investment in three new priority areas and 37 existing priority areas in the West is the result of a collaboration with NRCS and the Department of Interior’s WaterSMART Initiative to help farmers and ranchers conserve water and build drought resilience on the landscape and in their communities. These investments complement projects led by irrigation districts, water suppliers, and other organizations receiving WaterSMART program funds from the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. NRCS works directly with the Bureau of Reclamation to coordinate investments in the same community to accelerate water conservation and drought resilience in order to make a bigger impact where it is most needed.
The three new priority areas include:
- California: Madera Irrigation District Area (funding amount: $1.5 million)
- Hawaii: Kohala Watershed Partnership Area (funding amount: $345,000)
- Washington: Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District, West Canal Area (funding amount: $1.8 million)
Today’s WaterSMART announcements compliment the ongoing efforts across the Biden-Harris Administration to increase water conservation and address the historic drought conditions in the West. In April 2023, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation also announced $728 million in new investments for water conservation measures in the West.
Inflation Reduction Act and Climate-Smart Practices
Assistance delivered through the Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action and the WaterSMART Initiative also help to build resilience to climate-change impacts (such as droughts, wildfires, and floods). Many of the resilience-focused activities and systems are also Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry mitigation activities, which support carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Climate-smart mitigation activities are supported by the additional investments available from the IRA.
The IRA is supporting investments in these and other mitigation activities in cooperation with NRCS’ ongoing work to help producers and communities improve their operations and protect our natural resources in the face of global challenges. NRCS also announced $850 million in Fiscal Year 2023 funding opportunities for producers in Western States and across the Nation, who want to participate in NRCS conservation programs and adopt climate-smart practices. This is part of a $19.5 billion investment through the IRA for climate smart agriculture.
For More Information
Farmers, ranchers, irrigation districts, groundwater management entities, municipalities, Tribes, and others across the West are working together to secure clean and available water supplies, healthy soils, resilient landscapes, and thriving agricultural communities, both now and in the future. NRCS is working to assist them and to accelerate the voluntary conservation of water and resources on working lands.
Visit the NRCS website for more information regarding the WaterSMART Initiative and the Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit usda.gov.
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