A group of Western lawmakers pressed the Biden administration Monday to ramp up water conservation, especially in national forests that provide nearly half the region’s surface water. “Reliable and sustainable water availability is absolutely critical to any agricultural commodity production in the American West,” wrote the lawmakers, including Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The 31 members of the Senate and House, all Democrats except for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), credited the administration for several efforts related to water conservation, including promoting irrigation efficiency as a climate-smart practice eligible for certain USDA funding through the Inflation Reduction Act.

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