A third-generation farmer from California's San Joaquin Valley may become the next head of the federal agency that oversees water supplies in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin.
Aubrey Bettencourt, who recently stepped down as head of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, is expected to be formally nominated by President Donald Trump as the next commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Bettencourt would take over as the agency confronts a growing crisis on the Colorado River and a region experiencing a hotter, drier climate, drought and decreasing water supplies.
Bettencourt, 39, is a longtime agriculture professional and advocate. She was president and CEO of the California Almond Alliance, president of the California Water Alliance, a policy group and as an official of a drip irrigation technology firm.
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Bettencourt was also director of sustainability for Western United Dairymen, where she focused on watershed health and other natural resource issues for California’s agriculture industry.
She was deputy assistant secretary for water and science in the Interior Department during the first Trump administration.
She's also a member of a third-generation farming family. Bettencourt Farms, based in Hanford, California, grows a variety of crops including a popular pumpkin patch.
Nominee would face growing crisis on the Colorado River
If confirmed, Bettencourt will direct the nation's largest water projects operator. Reclamation provides one out of five farmers in the West with irrigation water across 10 million acres of farmland, and operates 296 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 140 million acre-feet, including Lakes Mead and Powell on the Colorado.
But it's the growing dilemma the West is experiencing in an era of shrinking water and increasing demand that will demand immediate attention from Reclamation's next commissioner.
Bettencourt will have to deal with the continuing stalemate among seven Colorado River basin states and 30 tribes who hold water rights in the area, who are trying to find a way to share the pain of shortages on the river. She'll also have to convince them that she will serve all their interests and hear their concerns.
The last nominee, former general manager of the Central Arizona Project Ted Cooke, was pushed out after Upper Basin states protested, believing that he would favor Lower Basin interests.
A farmer and a tribal leader weigh in
One California farmer believes Bettencourt's experience and expertise in agriculture will serve the agency and the people it provides water and electricity to well.
"Aubrey has been an advocate for water for the past 17 years," said Joe Del Bosque, a longtime farmer in Firebaugh.
He's best known for his farm's organic crops which include cantaloupes, honeydew melons, mix melons, watermelons and asparagus.
"She was front and center during the fight when we got cut back from water in 2009," he said. "I've fallowed a quarter of my farm because of the delivery shortages.
Aubrey Bettencourt, a third-generation California farmer, has been nominated by President Trump to head of the federal agency that oversees water supplies in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin.
"She understands water and agriculture well."
Del Bosque said maintaining a consistent water supply to farms ensures not only consistent food supplies but preserves the highly skilled labor required to deal with crops like watermelon and broccoli.
"People don't realize that melons are a perennial program," he said. "If we don't have them for our customers, we will lose those customers and we'll lose our people."
Klamath Tribes Chairman William Ray agreed that whoever takes Reclamation's helm will be faced with a massive task. The 5,800-member tribe composed of Klamath, Modoc and Yahooskin Paiutes holds treaty-based senior rights to the upper Klamath River and has vigorously defended those rights. Reclamation also oversees Klamath River operations including the Klamath Project.
Ray said the Klamath may be facing the same dire circumstances as the Colorado soon. "Creator hasn't given us snowpack this year," he said. "This is a tough year for all of us."
Ray said that a balanced approach will be needed to preserve water for salmon, the Klamath Tribes' endemic fish the c'waam and koptu, and agriculture. The tribe is working with Reclamation on c'waam and koptu preservation.
No matter who ends up running Reclamation, he said, all parties will need to be wise with conservation.
"What kind of world are we going to leave to our kids if we're not wise with conserving water?"
