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Water Service Contract Renewal <br />Water service contracts shall be renewed for the same quantity of supply as has been historically beneficially used <br />and shall provide the same availability to the water as has been historically enjoyed. Water service contracts shall <br />be renewed for the maximum allowable term. <br />Reclamation Reform Act <br />The RRA shall not affect exempted or paid -out districts or impair or alter existing contracts. <br />6. Reclamation Fund <br />The Reclamation Fund shall only be used for activities specifically set forth in reclamation law. <br />7. Reservoir and Dam Operation <br />All reservoirs and dams on the Colorado River shall be operated in compliance with applicable law and authorized <br />project purposes. Operational changes to benefit recreation, fishery or environmental mandates shall minimally <br />impact hydropower production. The federal government shall pay for replacement power due to operational <br />changes for recreation, fishery or the environment. <br />Infrastructure Maintenance and Update <br />The Reclamation - constructed and maintained water storage and conveyance systems situated throughout the <br />Colorado River Basin are critically important to the economies, the quality of life and the survival of the people <br />who depend upon waters from the Basin. In order to avoid huge financial impacts associated with performing <br />maintenance that was deferred or making future repairs on an emergency basis, the Congress must recognize and <br />appropriate the requisite funding needed to maintain aging, critically important water project infrastructure in the <br />Colorado River Basin and across the West. <br />Position Statement - -- Reclamation - -- (Resolution No. 2006 -3) <br />Inadequate precipitation in the American West required settlers to use irrigation for agriculture. As demand for <br />water increased, Westerners sought Federal Government investment and assistance with water storage and irrigation <br />projects, recognizing Congressional investments for roads, river navigation, harbors, canals and railroads. The irrigation <br />movement demonstrated its strength when pro - irrigation planks found their way into both Democratic and Republican <br />platforms in 1900. Congress responded to these needs and political desires with the passage of the Reclamation Act of June <br />17, 1902. The Act required that water users repay construction costs for projects from which they received benefits. The <br />Reclamation program has been a prominent part of western U.S. development in the intervening 100 -plus years and today <br />Reclamation operates about 180 projects in the 17 Western States. The total Reclamation investment for completed <br />facilities exceeds $12 billion and these completed works provide agricultural, municipal and industrial water to about one - <br />third of the population the American West. Over 9 million acres are irrigated with water supplied in whole or in part by <br />Bureau of Reclamation projects. Further, Reclamation is a major American generator of electricity from the 56 plants that <br />are operated as part of its projects. It is not an overstatement to say that Reclamation's projects and the water they provide <br />on an annual basis are of critical importance to the Western States. This is even more profoundly true in the driest portion <br />of the and West that encompasses the Colorado River Basin. <br />Given the enormous investment made by both the Federal Government and the involved water users, the critical, <br />life - sustaining importance of the water resources managed by the Reclamation projects and the water supply challenges that <br />are being faced in the West (the most rapidly growing portion of the United States), it is essential that Reclamation <br />adequately and properly attend to its water user constituency and responsibly discharge its fiduciary and resource <br />management responsibilities. The enormous financial investment in these critically important water projects must be <br />protected through adequate annual maintenance and rehabilitation expenditures. The fact that these projects were <br />constructed over the past 100 years demands that adequate annual financial investment be made to offset the effects of age <br />and deterioration of the concrete and steel infrastructure in these projects. Deferring adequate maintenance, rehabilitation <br />and updating activities will ultimately lead to increased expenditures in the future and may lead to loss of life and property <br />and dealing with emergency circumstances. Sound public policy demands adequate federal maintenance and rehabilitation <br />