Rep. Andy Biggs Pledges Federal Funding to Revive Yuma Desalting Plant

The Yuma Desalting Plant has sat largely unused since 1992, activated only twice in more than three decades. Rep. Andy Biggs wants to change that, and he says the federal government may be ready to help pay for it.

Biggs, a Republican congressman running for Arizona governor, told state GOP lawmakers at the Arizona Capitol on Friday that he intends to pursue federal grant funding to restart the dormant facility. His case for revival rests on a conversation he said he had with the Bureau of Reclamation. "When I talked to the Bureau of Reclamation, they told me that we should apply for a grant. And we think it's going to be pretty expensive, but there is some money there. If we can get that grant, we could actually get the desalt facility up and running," Biggs said.

Built in 1992, the Yuma Desalting Plant was designed to convert saline agricultural runoff into clean, potable water, a function directly tied to salinity challenges along the Colorado River. But a water surplus rendered it unnecessary in the eyes of the federal government nearly 35 years ago, and it has remained offline ever since. Getting it back online would not be cheap: estimates place the cost of upgrades alone in the tens of millions of dollars, with many millions more required to actually operate the plant once restored.

The financial hurdles are not the only obstacle. The plant's original construction inadvertently created the Cienega de Santa Clara, an enormous wetland along the Arizona-Mexico border formed from diverted agricultural runoff. That wetland is now a protected area, and any resumption of plant operations could divert water away from it, potentially disrupting the ecosystem and triggering legal challenges. No source has specified which federal or state protections apply to the Cienega, and it remains unclear what environmental review process a restart would require.

Biggs also addressed the broader Colorado River crisis during his meeting with state lawmakers, offering a blunt assessment. "I'm not going to mince words," he said, adding there is no good news on ongoing Colorado River negotiations. He also raised the possibility of expanding water storage capacity and constructing additional dams as part of a longer-term water strategy for Arizona.

Desalination has circulated as a policy idea among Arizona officials for years without producing a funded plan. The Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority is currently assessing the feasibility of investing in an entirely new desalination plant, potentially sited in California or Mexico, to supplement the state's water supply. Biggs' push to revive the existing Yuma facility represents a parallel track, one that would build on infrastructure already in place rather than starting from scratch.

Whether a federal grant application moves forward, and which specific Bureau of Reclamation program Biggs would target, remains to be seen. The Bureau has not publicly confirmed its guidance to Biggs, and no timeline for submitting an application has been announced.