The Bureau of Reclamation was conceived at the start of the 20th century (originally as the Reclamation Service) to meet the needs of a world that no longer exists.  Now, at the start of the 21st Century, the Bureau needs a new mission to help the West meet its needs in the future.  The Green Group recommendations for the Bureau represent just such a new vision.

The West the Bureau served in 1902 looked vastly different from the world we face today.  In 1902, most western states saw agriculture as the dominant force in their economies.  Most of these states were seeking policies designed to increase their populations as rapidly as possible.  The dramatic rise of public concern regarding the health of the environment was decades in the future.  And the Bureau had relatively few tools at its disposal to help meet water needs.  In 1902, even effective groundwater pumps wouldn’t be developed for decades.  It’s not a surprise that, for the next century, the Bureau focused primarily on building dams and canals to serve agriculture – becoming a world leader through the construction of Hoover Dam and dozens of other projects.  

Today, however, the Bureau faces dramatically different challenges.  New industries have emerged, driving the economies of most western states.  Burgeoning cities are concerned about the adequacy and reliability of their water supplies.  Salmon runs and aquatic resources are declining across the West -- leading to a public outcry for a more balanced approach.  And finally, climate change presents a clear case for a new direction.  Three examples of these new challenges suggest that a new direction is needed and possible.

First, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program has projected likely changes in median runoff across the nation.  These projections suggest that climate change will cause most of the West to be drier in the future.  The most dramatic projection is that the Colorado River Basin, a critical artery for seven states, will likely be from 10-25 percent dryer in the future.  Today, the Bureau’s projects capture the entire flow of the Colorado, leaving the river’s mouth dry.  Squeezing more water from a river that is likely to produce less water in the future is not a promising strategy.  Rather, in the Colorado River Basin and across the West, the Bureau must increasingly emphasize conservation, water recycling, groundwater cleanup and other proven tools to help meet growing water needs through conservation and reuse.  These cost-effective tools can make our water supply (and economy) less vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and reduce the pressure on our aquatic ecosystems.  This is just part of a new agenda for the Bureau to meet the challenges of climate change. 

Second, this year, state and federal regulators closed California’s commercial and recreational salmon fishery for the first time in state history.  Water project operations, particularly the Bureau’s projects, are one of the primary causes of this decline. According to the state’s leading fisheries biologist, without a change in the water management, California is likely to lose permanently this iconic fishery, costing the state thousands of jobs and more than a quarter billion dollars a year. To address these growing problems, the Bureau should pay greater attention to managing its water projects to protect and restore aquatic ecosystems across the West. 

Third, sea level rise, another result of climate change, threatens the future of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, much of which is far below sea level as a result of agricultural land subsidence.  This long-term threat has made the already complex Delta issues even more challenging.  Given that the Central Valley Project pumps much of its water from the Delta, these problems have powerful implications for the Bureau.  This month, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Delta Vision Task Force released a strategic plan calling for a dramatic new direction in California water policies, Delta management and the Bureau’s Central Valley Project. The Bureau’s new leadership should read these detailed recommendations with great care. 

By incorporating climate change into the Bureau’s management, by involving more stakeholders in its deliberations, by increasing its emphasis on efficiency and ecosystem health, and by partnering with local agencies in a more integrated manner, the Bureau can chart a new course to help Western states and communities meet their needs for another century.