California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act
A BILL
To provide short-term water supplies to drought-stricken California and provide for long-term investments in drought resiliency throughout the Western United States.
Sec. 2 Purposes
The purposes of this Act are—
to help communities most at risk of running out of clean water;
to provide funding and support for long-term solutions including water storage, desalination and recycling;
to protect threatened and endangered species; and
to facilitate the movement of water to communities most in need while adhering to all environmental laws.
Sec. 3 Findings
Congress finds that—
California is experiencing one of the most severe droughts on record, with the snowpack at the lowest levels in 500 years;
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought state of emergency on January 17, 2014, and subsequently imposed strict water reductions on communities throughout the State;
the drought constitutes a serious emergency that poses immediate and severe risks to—
human health and safety;
economic security; and
the environment;
wells that provide households with clean water have dried up due to 4 consecutive years of drought, with approximately 2,591 domestic wells statewide identified as critical or dry, affecting an estimated 12,955 residents, many in the Central Valley;
rural and disadvantaged communities have been hardest hit, placing great strain on drinking water supplies in the Southern San Joaquin Valley—
69 communities in Southern San Joaquin Valley have reported significant water supply and quality issues; and
East Porterville is particularly hard hit, with 40 percent, or 3,000, of its residents, without running water;
the State of California’s water supplies are at record-low levels, as indicated by the fact that major Central Valley Project reservoir levels were anywhere from 30 percent to 79 percent of their historical average as of February 8, 2016;
while storage levels are below their historical averages, snowpack is the deepest it’s been since 2005, the State of California’s Department of Water Resources found in its survey conducted on February 2, 2016, that the snow-water equivalent (the amount of water in the snowpack) was 130 percent above the February average;
the drought has resulted in many lost jobs including more than 21,000 seasonal and part-time agricultural jobs—resulting in a 10.9 percent unemployment rate in the Central Valley, double the statewide unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, as of December 15, 2015;
thousands of families have been affected, placing ever greater demands on food banks and other relief organizations, and as of December 21, 2015—
the California Department of Social Services Drought Food Assistance Program has provided more than 1,000,000 boxes to food banks in affected communities with high levels of unemployment; and
nearly 72 percent of the food distributions have occurred in the Tulare Basin counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare;
2015 statewide economic costs are estimated at $2,700,000,000, including but not limited to—
the loss of $900,000,000 in crop revenue;
the loss of $350,000,000 in dairy and other livestock value; and
an increase of $590,000,000 in groundwater pumping costs;
1,032,508 acres in California’s Central Valley were fallowed in 2015, a 626,512 acre increase from 2011;
the drought is imperiling California’s forests, which provide important ecological, economic, and cultural benefits to the State, and among the effects of the drought—
loss of 50,000,000 large trees due to stress from lack of water;
888,000,000 trees, covering 26,000,000 acres of California forest land, experienced losses of canopy cover since 2011, threatening ecosystem destruction and loss of animal habitat; and
6,337 fires covering 307,598 acres occurred in 2015;
fish continue to be threatened by the extended drought, compounding effects on two endangered species, further reducing river flows and increasing water temperatures—
Delta smelt abundance are at a historic low, as evidenced by long-term monitoring surveys; and
the abundance of the last remaining population of wild Sacramento River winter run Chinook salmon continue to decline, with mortality rates between 95 percent and 97 percent over the past 2 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration;
wildlife has also been affected, with Level 2 water deliveries to wildlife refuges under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act reduced by 25 percent in the north-of-Delta region and 35 percent in the south-of-Delta region, and delivery schedules shortened to only the winter months, and—
these reduced water supplies have contributed to a decline of the Pacific Flyway, a migratory route for waterfowl that spans from Alaska to South America;
the reduction in water supplies has led to a significant decline in flooded rice fields, a vital habitat for migratory birds. Only one-third of the usual acres of rice fields were flooded in 2015; and
the reduction of available habitat for migratory waterfowl contributed to a decreased food availability in wildlife refuges and an increased risk of disease due to overcrowding of birds;
subsidence in California is occurring at more than 12 inches per year, caused in part by an increase in groundwater pumping of more than 6,000,000 acre feet, some areas in the Central Valley have sunk as much as 2 inches per month, and the damage from subsidence is wide-ranging—
roads, bridges, building foundations, pipelines, canals, dams, and other infrastructure has been damaged;
vital aquifers have been depleted;
vital levees have sustained cracks and ruptures; and
shallow aquifers have become vulnerable to contamination as surface water infiltrates through fissures in the soil;
the California Department of Water Resources identified 21 groundwater basins where excessive groundwater pumping has resulted in overdraft, 11 of which are in the San Joaquin Valley;
California homes, cities, wildlife, businesses and farming need more water than is available today, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley;
Congress recognizes that providing more water to those who need it most will require science-based management of water supplies and fish and wildlife resources, including—
alternative management strategies, such as removing nonnative species, enhancing habitat, monitoring fish movement and location in real-time, and improving water quality in the Delta, which could contribute significantly to protecting and recovering those endangered fish species, and at potentially lower costs to water supplies than solely focusing on restrictions on water exports; and
updated science and improved monitoring tools that provide Federal and State agencies with better information about conditions and operations that may or may not lead to high salvage events that jeopardize fish populations; and
given the dire effects outlined above and the potential for continued harm, this emergency requires—
immediate and credible action that takes into account the complexity and importance of the water system to the State; and
policies that do not position stakeholders against one another, which in the past has led to costly litigation that benefits no one and prevents any real solutions.
Sec. 4 Definitions
In this Act:
Assistant Administrator— The term Assistant Administrator means the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Central Valley Project— The term Central Valley Project has the meaning given the term in section 3403 of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (Public Law 102–575; 106 Stat. 4707).
Commissioner— The term Commissioner means the Commissioner of Reclamation.
Delta— The term Delta means the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Suisun Marsh (as defined in section 12220 of the California Water Code and section 29101 of the California Public Resources Code (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act)).
Delta smelt— The term Delta smelt means the fish species with the scientific name Hypomesus transpacificus.
Director— The term Director means the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Listed fish species— The term listed fish species means—
any natural origin steelhead, natural origin genetic spring run Chinook, or genetic winter run Chinook salmon (including any hatchery steelhead or salmon population within the evolutionary significant unit or a distinct population segment); and
Delta smelt.
OMR— The term OMR means the Old and Middle River in the Delta.
OMR flow— The term OMR flow means Old and Middle River flow of any given measurement, expressed in cubic feet per second, as described in—
the smelt biological opinion; and
the salmonid biological opinion.
Reclamation State— The term Reclamation State means any of the States of—
Arizona;
California;
Colorado;
Idaho;
Kansas;
Montana;
Nebraska;
Nevada;
New Mexico;
North Dakota;
Oklahoma;
Oregon;
South Dakota;
Texas;
Utah;
Washington; and
Wyoming.
Salmonid biological opinion—
In general— The term salmonid biological opinion means the biological and conference opinion of the National Marine Fisheries Service dated June 4, 2009, regarding the long-term operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, and successor biological opinions.
Inclusions— The term salmonid biological opinion includes the operative incidental take statement of the opinion described in subparagraph (A).
Smelt biological opinion—
In general— The term smelt biological opinion means the biological opinion dated December 15, 2008, regarding the coordinated operation of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, and successor biological opinions.
Inclusions— The term smelt biological opinion includes the operative incidental take statement of the opinion described in subparagraph (A).
State Water Project— The term State Water Project means the water project described in chapter 5 of part 3 of division 6 of the California Water Code (sections 11550 et seq.) (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act) and operated by the California Department of Water Resources.