{"id":25372,"date":"2026-09-15T13:48:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/?p=25372"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T17:49:59","slug":"wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-protect-agricultural-water-access-amid-worsening-drought-in-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/wyden-merkley-introduce-bill-to-protect-agricultural-water-access-amid-worsening-drought-in-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyden, Merkley Introduce Bill to Protect Agricultural Water Access Amid Worsening Drought in Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><em>Legislation would help upgrade outdated water infrastructure systems to support agriculture<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Washington DC<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today introduced legislation that would help improve water resilience in communities across Oregon and the West as drought in the region persists after last year\u2019s record-low snowpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c<strong>Water scarcity in the West isn\u2019t a question of if, it\u2019s when<\/strong>,\u201d Wyden said. \u201c<strong>The federal government needs to get serious about protecting water resources before it\u2019s too late, and my legislation will help Oregon\u2019s farmers and producers remain even more resilient against growing drought conditions.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201c<strong>As climate chaos fuels hotter and drier summers, we must ensure that we have reliable, resilient water infrastructure that every farmer, Tribe, and community in our state can count on<\/strong>,\u201d said Merkley, whose Deschutes River Conservancy Reauthorization Act is included in this bill. \u201c<strong>Passing this bill will provide more opportunities for crucial investments and innovative solutions to support communities facing persistent drought conditions<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The Western Water Reinvestment Act would improve water access for agriculture and conservation by supporting projects that improve dam safety, create more resilient watersheds and benefit agricultural and urban water users.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most regions of Oregon have just one-third of their average annual snowpack, and many parts of the state remain under extreme drought conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Legislative text is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wyden.senate.gov\/imo\/media\/doc\/water_infrastructure_legislative_text.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aqu\u00ed<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legislation would help upgrade outdated water infrastructure systems to support agriculture Washington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today introduced legislation that would help improve water resilience in communities across Oregon and the West as drought in the region persists after last year\u2019s record-low snowpack. \u201cWater scarcity in the West isn\u2019t a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":24863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[42,118,114,36,45],"class_list":["post-25372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-agriculture","tag-delivering-for-oregon","tag-drought","tag-natural-resources-and-rural-development","tag-tackling-climate-change"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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