Two U.S. lawmakers representing Colorado are advancing a bill in Congress to update the country's snowpack tracking technology and more accurately predict water supply.
The 2025 Snow Water Supply Forecasting Reauthorization Act is sponsored by Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction Republican, and cosponsored by Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat.
Hurd's district encompasses much of western and southern Colorado, including Garfield and Pitkin counties, while Neguse's spans parts of the central and northern mountains, including Eagle, Summit, Routt and Grand counties.
Their bill, which passed the U.S. House on Wednesday and now heads to the Senate, would renew and update the country's forecasting system for snowpack melt. In statements, both lawmakers said the measure is important for their rural and mountain communities, which rely on snowpack data for irrigation planning, drought management and annual water allocation.
"We cannot manage what we cannot measure," Hurd said. "Water is life in the West, and accurate data is how we manage it."
Neguse said the House vote to approve the bill "is a crucial step to improve forecasting and available data for snowpack and water supply monitoring," adding he is "proud to join Rep. Hurd on this bill to ensure that our communities here in Colorado have the data and resources they need to thrive."
The push to improve snowpack data comes amid mounting challenges in Colorado and the West, where chronic drought continues to plague many regions, and negotiations sputter over how to manage a strained Colorado River.
Colorado receives about 80% of its annual water supply from snowpack, and nearly every long-term snowpack monitoring site in the state has seen a decline in snow water content since the 1950s due to climate change, according to a 2024 article from Colorado State University.
Hurd and Neguse's bill incorporates modern technologies such as satellite imagery and light detection and ranging, also known as LiDAR, to analyze better the amount of liquid water frozen in snowfields across the U.S.
Like radar, but using light, LiDAR sends beams from a plane or satellite toward the ground. By measuring the time it takes for the light to be reflected, scientists can calculate the depth of an area and create a 3-D model of the landscape. The flights also use a spectrometer to capture infrared images that show where snow is melting fastest.
The result is a more accurate measurement of snowpack depth, which can be used for runoff forecasting and water management.
Hurd said families, ranchers, and water managers across his district "make critical decisions every day based on snowpack forecasts -- decisions that affect their livelihoods and our communities.
"This bill gives them better tools and more reliable information to plan with," he said.
The bill mirrors a state-level measure adopted by Colorado lawmakers earlier this year that would incorporate LiDAR and other technologies in a new statewide snowpack measurement program.
The program will be housed within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources' water conservation board, which will be able to contract with independent companies to run LiDAR flights and create new maps.
Lawmakers who sponsored the measure, including Colorado House Speaker Julie McCluskie, a Dillon Democrat, said the plan is intended to modernize the state's snowpack monitoring -- a system that largely hasn't been updated in decades.
Current snowpacking monitoring dates back to at least the 1960s, when snow telemetry, or SNOTEL, sites began using pressure-sensitive pillows and sensors to gauge snowpack depth and water weight. Today, Colorado has more than 100 SNOTEL sites that use this same method.
"Given the threats of drought and diminishing water resources in this state, it is incredibly important that we not miss a beat to lean in with innovative technologies, with more proactive thinking in addressing the threat to our water system and our water future," McCluskie said in an interview in February after introducing her bill.
Some water entities, including Denver Water, Northern Water and the Colorado River Water Conservation District, have partnered with LiDAR providers in recent years for their own snowpack mapping. Colorado lawmakers hope their plan will lead to a more cohesive statewide approach.
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