[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1199 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

                                                         June 18, 2008.
Whereas the Orange County Water District (OCWD) is celebrating its 75th 
        anniversary of providing high quality groundwater to millions of 
        residents in northern and central Orange County, California, and upon 
        this occasion, deserves special recognition;
Whereas OCWD was created in 1933 by the California State Legislature's passage 
        of Senator N.T. Edwards' SB 1201, which was signed into law on June 14, 
        1933;
Whereas OCWD was empowered to manage Orange County's large groundwater basin, to 
        protect the quality and quantity of the groundwater, to conserve and 
        manage groundwater supplies, to protect Orange County's water rights to 
        the flow of the Santa Ana River, and to ensure that the water needs of 
        the people of Orange County, who depend on the groundwater basin, are 
        provided for;
Whereas in the 1950s, OCWD initiated the region's first sustained artificial 
        recharge replenishment system, which today is one of the most 
        sophisticated and efficient recharge systems in the country;
Whereas in 1972, OCWD built the internationally-acclaimed Water Factory 21, the 
        Nation's first and largest wastewater purification plant, to use reverse 
        osmosis to purify sewer water for injection along the coast to prevent 
        seawater intrusion;
Whereas in 1989, OCWD published a comprehensive Groundwater Management Plan for 
        increasing water supplies, cleaning up contamination, and improving 
        basin management, which became the model for groundwater management 
        across the State;
Whereas in 1991, OCWD's Green Acres Project became operational as the Nation's 
        first landscape irrigation wastewater treatment plant that provided 
        water to local parks, golf courses, highway medians, and industry, 
        freeing high quality drinking water for more valued uses in the arid 
        Orange County;
Whereas in 2008, OCWD began operating the Groundwater Replenishment System, the 
        world's largest sewer water purification project of its kind built to 
        protect groundwater from seawater intrusion, delaying the need for 
        another ocean outfall and making the region less dependent on imported 
        water from the San Joaquin-Delta and Colorado Rivers by providing a new 
        supply of high quality, locally controlled and energy efficient water to 
        Orange County;
Whereas OCWD has one of the best water quality monitoring and protection 
        programs, testing for twice the amount of chemicals required by law, 
        maintaining a proactive philosophy of looking for emerging contaminants, 
        and developing southern California's largest constructed wetlands to 
        naturally purify Santa Ana River flows into Orange County;
Whereas OCWD has one of the highest financial ratings in the State, won every 
        major water award, begun eliminating the evasive arundo donax through 
        its environmental programs, and developed experimental wetlands to clean 
        up dairy wastewater; and
Whereas OCWD has also developed basin-cleaning vehicles to enhance recharge 
        efficiency, sponsored the Nation's largest Children's Water Education 
        Festival, and brought back the least Bell's vireo, an endangered 
        California songbird: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives commends the Orange County Water 
District and its employees for their sound financial management and innovative 
groundwater management, water quality, water efficiency, and environmental 
programs, on its 75th anniversary.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.