Representative Jeff Hurd addressed the House of Representatives, urging Congress to override President Trump’s veto of H.R. 131, known as the Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act. The bill aims to fulfill a decades-old federal commitment to provide safe drinking water to rural communities in southeastern Colorado.
“In 1962, Congress authorized the Arkansas Valley Conduit to deliver safe drinking water to rural communities in southeastern Colorado,” Rep. Hurd said. “Sixty-four years later, that promise remains unfinished. These communities grow watermelon, cantaloupe, and chiles and support families who ranch and raise livestock. When we talk about honoring federal commitments, we are talking about whether the people who grow our food can count on clean water. These are real families in real towns facing real public health consequences.”
The proposed legislation does not expand the project or authorize new construction but would give rural communities more time and flexibility to repay federal loans by extending repayment periods and lowering interest rates for those facing economic hardship. Currently, over 50,000 residents in southeastern Colorado rely on groundwater that is contaminated or radioactive for their drinking supply. Eighteen local water systems are under enforcement orders due to violations of Environmental Protection Agency standards.
“For those of us who represent the American West, this vote is personal,” Rep. Hurd stated. “In the West, water means survival. It determines whether communities grow or disappear, whether agriculture survives, and whether families can trust what comes out of their taps.”
Rep. Hurd pointed out that President Trump’s administration had previously supported the conduit project as a benefit for rural Colorado. In October 2020, construction began on the conduit after a press release from the Trump Administration promised it would bring clean water to these communities.
“Rural Colorado—and rural America more broadly—voted overwhelmingly for this President, and for an agenda that promised they would not be forgotten. They voted with the expectation that Washington would keep its commitments to rural America—not abandon them midway. If the project was worth supporting in a campaign rally and celebrating at a groundbreaking, surely it is worth finishing,” Rep. Hurd said.
He also warned that failing to complete this long-standing commitment could undermine trust in future federal promises.
“I ran for Congress to fight for my district, even when it is difficult, even when it is uncomfortable, and even when the outcome is uncertain,” Rep. Hurd said. “This is one of those moments.”
