Congress questions Corps on forecast‑informed reservoir operations and water supply projects
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Summary
Members pushed the Army Corps to expand forecast‑informed reservoir operations and to accelerate environmental infrastructure projects, including examples from California, the Colorado River Basin and a multi‑decade Catskill Aqueduct connection project.
Members from the West and other regions urged the Corps to adopt forecast‑informed reservoir operations (FIRO) and to accelerate environmental infrastructure projects authorized in WERDA 2024.
Nut graf: Lawmakers said FIRO and updated water‑control manuals can increase water available from existing reservoirs, improve resilience to drought and flood extremes, and speed delivery of locally prioritized environmental infrastructure projects.
Assistant Secretary Adam Tell described FIRO and related tools as "critical" ways to extract more value from existing reservoirs without building new infrastructure. "When we're able to use things like forecast informed reservoir operations ... we can use all of the sensing and data, capabilities that we've developed in the interim, to ... store more water, provide more water," Tell said.
Representative Ryan described a locally prioritized environmental infrastructure project in his district — the Catskill Aqueduct Connection Project (Kiryas Joel) — that would run a 13‑mile pipeline and add a 2 million‑gallon‑per‑day treatment plant; he said the project was included in Section 219 of WERDA and is authorized at $25 million. General Graham said districts stand ready to assist subject to funding.
Members from Colorado and California asked about applying FIRO in western basins, including the Colorado River Basin; Graham said the Corps will evaluate water control manuals and expand FIRO capability where technically appropriate, and noted Lake Mendocino's new water‑control manual as an immediate example.
Ending: Corps leadership committed to scale FIRO training and expertise across districts, to cooperate with local sponsors on environmental infrastructure projects and to follow up with technical and funding guidance for district‑level work under WERDA 2024.