The #law, which was signed by #Republican Gov #SpencerCox on March 27 & will go into effect on May 7, comes amid renewed scrutiny of #fluoride, a mineral that has been widely added to US #DrinkingWater since 1945 to prevent cavities. Controversy over the safety of water fluoridation has intensified in recent years, driven in part by #ConspiracyTheories & by growing resistance to #PublicHealth interventions since the #pandemic.

In addition to those #water #conservation programs, the #InflationReductionAct set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for projects aimed at keeping #ColoradoRiver tributaries #clean & #healthy. Conservation groups, small nonprofits, Native American tribes, & local governments were assigned federal money for a bevy of projects that included #Wildfire prevention & #HabitatRestoration.

That is no small feat, as leaders of the states that use #ColoradoRiver #water are caught in a #legal standoff about how to share it going forward.…

"Having this appropriated funding suddenly taken away undoes years & years of very careful collaboration among the #states in the #ColoradoRiverBasin," Castle said, "& threatens the #sustainability of the entire system."

#Water users whose #grants have been paused said they are asking the federal govt for more info & getting little in the way of answers. The #FederalAgencies in charge of Western water did not respond to NPR's requests for comment [probably because they were fired by #Musk].

#Conservation programs like the one sending money to #California #farmers have been key in boosting water supplies in major #reservoirs.

…Some #water experts say they are surprised to see these water conservation programs frozen by #Trump's executive order, since they do not appear to be in line w/the president's stated priorities of eliminating #diversity programs & boosting domestic #energy production.

"These are not woke environmental programs," said Anne Castle, who held federal water policy roles…. "These are essential to continued ability to divert #water."

The 2022 #InflationReductionAct allowed President #Biden to designate $4B for #ColoradoRiver programs, including big sums for programs that pay #farmers, #cities & #NativeAmerican [#IndigenousPeople] tribes to #conserve Colorado River #water &, instead, leave it in those #reservoirs. The payments are compensation for money they can't make by using water to grow crops or for other uses.

The #ColoradoRiver is shrinking due to #ClimateChange, which means the nation's 2 largest #reservoirs, #LakeMead & #LakePowell, created by #dams, have reached record low levels in recent years amid a #megadrought spanning >2 decades. If #water levels fall much lower, they could lose the ability to generate #hydropower within the massive dams that hold them back, or even lose the ability to pass water downstream.

But the order also says, "All agencies shall immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the #InflationReductionAct of 2022”

While some of those funds were earmarked to prop up #RenewableEnergy, at least $4B was set aside to protect the flow of the #ColoradoRiver, which supplies about 40M people w/ #DrinkingWater, is the foundation for a massive #agriculture #economy across the Southwest, & generates significant #hydroelectric power.