Bennet, Hickenlooper Welcome Release of $47 Million in Federal Funding for Four Colorado Projects to Address Colorado River Crisis

May 13, 2026 | Press Releases

Follows a year and a half delay for Colorado's "Bucket 2E" water projects

Senators continue pushing to release additional $92M in funding for remaining Colorado projects, including Shoshone

Washington, D.C. - Colorado Senators Michael Bennet, Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, Natural Resources, and Biotechnology, and John Hickenlooper welcomed the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) announcement of $47 million in federal funding for four projects in Colorado to combat the Colorado River crisis.

"Colorado communities, Tribal leaders, water users, and local advocates fought for years to secure these funds and keep critical projects moving forward," said Bennet. "The funding released will support the Pine River Indian Irrigation Project, drought-resilient infrastructure across the Southwest, and endangered species recovery efforts, which are all essential to Colorado's future. While this is an important step forward, the Administration must still release the full funding Congress approved, including for Shoshone. I'll keep pushing to make sure Colorado gets the certainty and resources we were promised."

"This year's extremely poor snowpack has made the Colorado River crisis even more dire. We don't have time to stall and hope for a wet summer," said Hickenlooper. "We're relieved that this funding from our historic Inflation Reduction Act will continue to flow to help our communities manage the drought impacts on the Upper Basin. We won't let up until all of the obligated funding is released."

The federal funding comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, in which Bennet helped secure $4 billion to mitigate the impacts of drought, including activities to support environmental benefits and promote ecosystem and habitat restoration.

Last August, the senators and Colorado Representatives Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank, Joe Neguse, Gabe Evans, Brittany Pettersen, Lauren Boebert, Diana DeGette, and Jason Crow called on top officials at the Department of the Interior (DOI) and USBR to release $140 million in previously awarded federal funding for 15 Colorado projects to help fight the Colorado River crisis.

Six of the 17 originally announced Upper Colorado River Basin projects have now been awarded a total of more than $59 million. The Shoshone Permanency Project and 10 other drought projects remain unfunded. The senators are continuing to push USBR to release the additional $92 million.

The four projects will receive $47 million in funding from the USBR's Upper Colorado River Basin Environmental Drought Mitigation program, referred to as "Bucket 2E."

In 2025, Bennet and Hickenlooper fought for $8.5 billion for western water infrastructure, $10 billion for forests, $20 billion for agricultural conservation, and $4 billion for drought in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In March, Bennet reintroduced the Healthy Watersheds, Healthy Communities Act to help American agriculture and communities become more resilient to drought and flooding by improving the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations program. In July 2025, Bennet and Hickenlooper introduced the Tribal Access to Clean Water Act to dramatically expand access to clean water in Tribal communities by investing in water infrastructure. This bill increases funding through the Indian Health Service, the United States Department of Agriculture, and the Bureau of Reclamation to support water infrastructure projects in Tribal communities and help provide clean water to Native American households that currently lack access.

Details on the projects receiving B2E funding are below:

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