February 24, 2022 3:00 a.m.

U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are joining western colleagues in calling on Senate leadership to include $616 million in emergency drought funding and agricultural assistance in the omnibus appropriations bill.

The release said this comes as the western U.S. continues to suffer the worst megadrought in more than 1,200 years.

Wyden and Merkley wrote, “The Colorado River, the lifeblood of seven western states, could lose 29 percent of its flow by the 2050s and 55 percent by 2100, and federal assistance is essential to adapt to the dramatically lower flows”. The senators said many disadvantaged and tribal communities across the west are simply running out of water to drink. They said, “Communities, such as the Klamath Basin, desperately need help to avoid an economic calamity”.

A release said the letter was led by California Senator Dianne Feinstein.

The full text of the letter is linked: https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/9/1/917b0502-1551-4895-a606-7ed24f1da214/392DB37BA9FA8AB0339AF4ABA99C6A46.2022.02.18-emergency-supplemental-drought-and-ag-funding-letter.pdf