PASSED: Congresswoman Lee’s Provisions in Bipartisan Water Bill Pass Out of House

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) applauded the passage of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024 out of the U.S. House of Representatives. The biennial, bipartisan legislation includes all three of her requests to protect southern Nevada’s water supply, including support for Laughlin’s water system and the Las Vegas Wash program. 

“No one knows better than a Nevadan just how precious our water resources are. That’s why I made securing water infrastructure investments for Laughlin and the Vegas Wash my top priorities for the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act of 2024,” said Colorado River Caucus Vice-Chair Susie Lee. “I look forward to getting this bipartisan legislation to the President’s desk so we can tackle the ongoing effects of drought and protect our water supply across southern Nevada.” 

Included in the bipartisan legislation are all three of Congresswoman Lee’s top priorities for Southern Nevada: 

1. To authorize $29 million in United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) environmental infrastructure assistance for improvements to the Big Bend Water District Water Treatment and Delivery System in Laughlin, NV.
2. To include language from Congresswoman Lee’s Las Vegas Wash Program Extension Act as part of WRDA 2024, which will raise the funding cap of the Las Vegas Wash program from $40 million to $60 million.
3. To elevate water supply to a primary mission area of the USACE nationwide. 

Sitting at the southern tip of Nevada, Laughlin is struggling with water infrastructure no longer sufficient to meet its needs, especially in the event of an emergency. The town’s water treatment and delivery system is the only such system managed by the Las Vegas Valley Water District that lacks a secondary water source and lags in water storage capacity. To meet this crisis, Congresswoman Lee requested assistance to update Laughlin’s water system, which includes the construction of a new groundwater well. 

Farther north, the Las Vegas Wash carries more than 200 million gallons of water to Lake Mead every day and allows southern Nevada to recycle nearly every drop of water it uses indoors. Raising the funding cap on the federally supported Las Vegas Wash program would help ensure that projects to protect and restore the channel receive necessary resources. Just last year, Congresswoman Lee announced a separate $20 million investment in the Las Vegas Wash, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which she helped negotiate and pass. 

The full text of WRDA 2024 can be found here. 

As Vice-Chair of the bipartisan Colorado River Caucus, Congresswoman Susie Lee has been dedicated to finding solutions to the ongoing effects of Nevada’s megadrought. Last Congress, her Large-Scale Water Recycling Project Investment Act was signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In 2023, she secured more than $122 million for local water projects, including the Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead. She also led a bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives calling on the Biden Administration to take federal action to safeguard the Colorado River System after a series of missed deadlines, which helped build the momentum necessary for the Colorado River Basin states to reach a historic agreement to voluntarily conserve 3 million additional acre-feet of water through 2026. 

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