Title II — Calfed Storage Feasibility Studies

complete the feasibility studies described in clauses (i)(I) and (ii)(II) of section 103(d)(1)(A) of Public Law 108–361 (118 Stat. 1684) and submit such studies to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than November 30, 2018;

complete the feasibility study described in clause (i)(II) of section 103(d)(1)(A) of Public Law 108–361 and submit such study to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than November 30, 2018;

complete a publicly available draft of the feasibility study described in clause (ii)(I) of section 103(d)(1)(A) of Public Law 108–361 and submit such study to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than November 30, 2018;

complete the feasibility study described in clause (ii)(I) of section 103(d)(1)(A) of Public Law 108–361 and submit such study to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than November 30, 2019;

complete the feasibility study described in section 103(f)(1)(A) of Public Law 108–361 (118 Stat. 1694) and submit such study to the appropriate committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate not later than December 31, 2019;

in conducting any feasibility study under this Act, the reclamation laws, the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (title XXXIV of Public Law 102–575; 106 Stat. 4706), the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (16 U.S.C. 661 et seq.), the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), and other applicable law, for the purposes of determining feasibility the Secretary shall document, delineate, and publish costs directly relating to the engineering and construction of a water storage project separately from the costs resulting from regulatory compliance or the construction of auxiliary facilities necessary to achieve regulatory compliance; and

communicate, coordinate and cooperate with public water agencies that contract with the United States for Central Valley Project water and that are expected to participate in the cost pools that will be created for the projects proposed in the feasibility studies under this section.

Definitions— For the purposes of this section:

Applicability of RMP— The RMP and findings related thereto shall have no effect on or applicability to the Secretary’s determination of feasibility of, or on any findings or environmental review documents related to—

Duties of secretary upon determination of feasibility— If the Secretary finds the Project to be feasible, the Secretary shall manage the land recommended in the RMP for designation under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.) in a manner that does not impede any environmental reviews, preconstruction, construction, or other activities of the Project, regardless of whether or not the Secretary submits any official recommendation to Congress under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Reserved water rights— Effective December 22, 2017, there shall be no Federal reserved water rights to any segment of the San Joaquin River related to the Project as a result of any designation made under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.).

Subsurface system framework: occurrence and geometry of aquifer and non-aquifer zones.

Aquifer storage and transmission characteristics.

Areas of greatest recharge potential.

Estimate forest biomass density and annual evapotranspiration (ET) across the Shasta Lake watershed for the past decade using satellite and other available spatial data.

Identify areas on public and private land that have high biomass densities and ET, and assess potential changes in ET that would ensue from forest restoration.

Assess role of subsurface storage in providing drought resilience of forests, based on long-term historical estimates of precipitation, drought severity and stream discharge.

Assess role of snowpack in annual water balance across the watersheds.