WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) successfully included items in the 2016 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to help increase water storage and prevent ice-jam flooding in Wyoming.
Many federal water-storage facilities in the West, including Wyoming, are losing existing space due to sediment buildup.
One of the provisions Barrasso included in WRDA would create a pilot program that targets sediment buildup in existing U.S. Army Corps and Bureau of Reclamation water-storage facilities in the Upper Missouri River Basin.
“Water storage is a huge premium in the West,” said Barrasso. “We’re always looking for better ways to increase that storage. Removing and preventing excess sediment is one way to do this. The pilot project will encourage the Army Corps and the Bureau of Reclamation to work together and with local communities to address sediment buildup in federal dams in Wyoming.”
Barrasso also included a provision to protect rural communities from flooding. Flood damage from ice jams – when frozen rivers thaw in the spring and the ice heads downstream – causes severe flood damage to rural communities and their levees.
“In Wyoming, we try to be proactive in protecting our rural communities from flooding,” said Barrasso. “In Baggs, Greybull and other towns across the state, ice jams are a serious public safety concern. These towns also can’t afford the costs associated with severe flooding. It’s important that we work together to help develop innovative and cost-effective ways to prevent ice-jam flooding.”
The 2016 WRDA bill passed by a vote of 19 to 1 at today’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Business Meeting.
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