02.22.19

Feb. 26 Hearing Will Examine Climate Change, Other Pressures on Western Water Supply and Related Economic Impacts

Washington, D.C. – The Water, Oceans, and Wildlife Subcommittee will hold a Feb. 26 hearing titled The State of Water Supply Reliability in the 21st Century. Witnesses at the hearing – part of the Natural Resources Committee’s historic month-long series of hearings examining climate change – will speak to our nation’s water supply challenges in the coming years, including the projected impact that climate change will have on shrinking snowpack, reduced precipitation, and warming temperatures.

The full witness list is available below. As with all hearings, the event is open to media and the public.

When: Tuesday, Feb. 26, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time

Where: Longworth 1324

Majority Witnesses

  • Mr. Brad Udall, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

Mr. Udall serves as senior water and climate research scientist at the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University. He is an author of the Southwest chapter of the 2018 National Climate Assessment and was lead author of the water sector chapter of the 2009 National Climate Assessment. His research focuses on major Western rivers, including the Rio Grande, Colorado, Klamath and Sacramento-San Joaquin.

  • Ms. Susana De Anda, Community Water Center, Visalia, California

Ms. De Anda is the co-founder and co-executive director of the Community Water Center, a nonprofit environmental justice organization based in California’s San Joaquin Valley. During California’s recent drought, she worked alongside rural, low-income communities and communities of color hit hardest by dry wells and contaminated drinking water supplies.

  • Mr. Tony Willardson, Western States Water Council, Murray, Utah

Mr. Willardson serves as executive director of the Western States Water Council, a policy advisory body representing 18 Western states. The Council is a bipartisan organization that works closely with the Western Governors Association on water policy issues of concern to state executives.

  • Mr. Harrison Ibach, Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, Humboldt, California

Mr. Ibach is the President of the Humboldt Fishermen’s Marketing Association, a local fishing organization. As a crab fisherman in the North Coast region of California, Mr. Ibach has firsthand knowledge of the commercial fishing industry and the ways in which environmental changes affect catch limitations and fishing markets.

  • Minority witness to be announced

Press Contact

Media Contact: Adam Sarvana

(202) 225-6065 or (202) 578-6626 mobile