Track bills, resolutions, and amendments moving through Congress
Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act of 2025
The bill improves water-supply forecasting for states, utilities, and rural communities by funding advanced measurements and modeling, but does so with modest, time-limited federal dollars that are smaller than prior authorizations and increase Secretary discretion, raising scale and transparency concerns.
Crystal Reservoir Conveyance Act
The bill transfers local ownership and preserves recreation and wetlands at Crystal Reservoir, but does so by shifting substantial financial, regulatory, and legal responsibilities and constraints onto the City of Ouray and the local community.
Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act
The bill trades accelerated permits and new regional water and utility infrastructure (and a modest expansion of protected lands) for faster land-use approvals and permissive material/ROW terms that could reduce federal revenue and environmental oversight, increasing risks to public lands and community input.
Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act of 2025
The bill centralizes and secures non‑Federal conservation funds and improves transparency for the Lower Colorado River program, but it limits flexible access to investment earnings and creates investment/timing risks that could shift costs to taxpayers or delay spending.
National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
The bill substantially improves hazard monitoring, data, and inclusiveness for tribes—boosting preparedness and scientific capacity—but does so at measurable federal and local cost, with potential coverage gaps and reduced fiscal and implementation flexibility in the near term.
MAPWaters Act of 2025
The bill creates standardized, searchable geospatial data and clearer public maps that improve safety, agency coordination, and conservation compliance, but it raises costs, privacy and security risks, and could reduce local flexibility in managing waterways.
Great Lakes Fishery Research Reauthorization Act
The bill aims to clarify and potentially extend USGS authority and funding for Great Lakes monitoring—improving regional data and decisionmaking—but risks higher federal costs, transitional uncertainty for partners, and potential weakening of monitoring depending on the final statutory language.
PERMIT Act
The bill trades substantial permitting relief, predictability, and state control—reducing time and cost for farmers, developers, utilities, and some water projects—for weaker federal oversight, reduced public review and legal remedies, and materially higher risks to water quality, ecosystems, and downstream public health.
Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act
The bill directs modest, targeted federal funds and legal certainty to several tribal water projects—improving infrastructure and reducing local financial burdens—while increasing federal outlays and slightly reducing Treasury receipts and introducing modest administrative and budgetary risks.
Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025
The bill directs dedicated federal MR&I funds to improve the Crow Tribe's water infrastructure and preserves Tribal ownership, while altering account management and explicitly leaving long-term operation and maintenance costs, timing control, and some administrative burdens to the Tribe and the Secretary.
Expressing support for the designation of the week of September 20 through September 27, 2025, as "National Estuaries Week".
The resolution raises awareness and encourages coordination that could improve estuary conservation, fisheries, and local resilience, but it is largely symbolic with no guaranteed funding and could lead to regulatory costs for some industries or divert attention from other environmental priorities.
Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2025
The bill strengthens national monitoring, coordination, and financial support for harmful algal bloom and hypoxia response—improving public health, tribal subsistence protections, and scientific capacity—while increasing federal spending, administrative complexity, and some local infrastructure and compliance costs.
Mid-Atlantic River Basin Commissions Review Act
The bill trades increased federal review and clearer, more transparent recommendations for regional water governance against added reporting burdens and the risk that a short review timeline and oversight changes will shift costs to state and local governments.
Great Lakes Mass Marking Program Act of 2025
The bill improves fishery management and local fishing economies by funding and standardizing hatchery mass‑marking and data-sharing, but it increases federal/state costs, concentrates authority, creates operational and data‑governance burdens for Tribal and state partners, and carries ecological risks to wild fish if not carefully managed.
Sinkhole Mapping Act of 2025
The bill provides federally standardized, regularly updated sinkhole-risk mapping that improves planning, preparedness, and scientific understanding—but shifts potential financial and regulatory costs onto homeowners, under-resourced localities, and federal taxpayers.
Bolts Ditch Act
The bill gives local water authorities clearer legal authority to maintain Bolts Ditch—potentially improving responsiveness and infrastructure management for local residents—while shifting costs and coordination responsibilities onto local governments and ratepayers without providing new funding.
To amend Public Law 99–338 with respect to Kaweah Project permits.
The bill increases contracting stability and flexibility for utilities and governments by lengthening renewal options and removing a named firm, but it raises the risk of higher costs for ratepayers due to less frequent competitive rebidding and may create some administrative ambiguity.
Colorado River Basin System Conservation Extension Act
The bill clarifies and consolidates statutory references to reduce legal uncertainty for Colorado River conservation efforts but risks narrowing program authorities or causing administrative delays that could limit or slow conservation actions.
To authorize the International Boundary and Water Commission to accept funds for activities relating to wastewater treatment and flood control works, and for other purposes.
The bill makes it easier to bring non‑Federal money to border water projects and increases transparency, speeding infrastructure delivery and public‑health benefits, but it limits some partners and reimbursements and adds administrative requirements that may constrain or slow participation by certain local or private contributors.
To amend the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act to clarify a provision relating to conveyances for aquifer recharge purposes.
The bill makes it quicker and clearer for holders of existing federal rights-of-way to implement aquifer recharge projects, but it stops short of authorizing new infrastructure and retains BLM oversight and compliance costs, leaving communities that need new construction still facing separate approvals, uncertainty, and added expense.
Community Reclamation Partnerships Act of 2025
The bill creates clearer pathways, tools, and community roles for remediating mine drainage—likely improving water quality—while shifting financial and administrative burdens to states and taxpayers and introducing legal and sunset-related uncertainties for project partners.
To provide for a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts of a certain record of decision on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.
The bill improves planning for reduced Glen Canyon hydropower, reliability, and species conservation but may raise costs for ratepayers/taxpayers, impose operational restrictions on water users, and introduce delays while agencies coordinate.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act
The bill returns specific TVA lands to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and clarifies trust status to secure cultural preservation, access, and educational benefits, but does so with constraints (existing easements, TVA operational rights, development limits), local tax/jurisdictional impacts, flood and cost risks, and a ban on gaming on those lands that will reduce tribal revenue and jobs.
Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025
The bill trades large, near‑term federal funding and legally certain, quantified tribal water allocations and infrastructure for tribes (improving potable water access and long‑term planning) against significant concessions: tribes waive broad historic claims and accept operational limits, deadlines, federal oversight, cost‑shifts, and environmental and fiscal risks that reduce flexibility for tribes and increase federal and local exposures.
Smith River National Recreation Area Expansion Act
The bill significantly strengthens and clarifies federal protections for rivers, wetlands, wilderness, and tribal access—improving conservation, habitat, and community safety—but does so at the expense of new land-use restrictions, costs to taxpayers, and increased administrative and permitting burdens that can affect timber-dependent communities, landowners, and local governments.
Basin Fund Preservation Act
The bill creates coordinated planning and analyses to protect Western water infrastructure, grid reliability, and ESA-listed species, but that added process risks delaying immediate work and could raise electricity costs or lead to operational restrictions for water and recreation users.
Farmers Freedom Act of 2025
The bill reduces permitting burdens and clarifies land status to protect agricultural uses, but it narrows federal oversight in ways that may increase wetland loss, downstream pollution and flood risks — shifting potential environmental and fiscal costs onto local communities and taxpayers.
Tule River Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025
The Act trades significant federal funding and legally settled Tribal water rights and land trust benefits—bringing infrastructure investment and litigation finality—for substantial taxpayer cost, shifted long‑term financial obligations onto the Tribe/Trust Fund, reduced avenues for certain legal claims, and increased executive discretion that can limit oversight and affect downstream users.
Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025
The bill expands and clarifies water access, funding, and legal status for Navajo Nation communities and Project participants—providing substantial new funding and institutional structure—at the expense of larger federal fiscal exposure, potential delays to building on‑the‑ground facilities, and retained federal controls and legal/jurisdictional complexities that limit local autonomy.
Improving Flood and Agricultural Forecasts Act of 2025
The bill strengthens local and national weather observations and forecasting—improving safety and resilience—by funding and leveraging non‑Federal networks, but it shifts costs and operational burdens onto taxpayers, NOAA/NWS, and local applicants and may create access and sustainment barriers for smaller partners.
