    [Senate Hearing 116-330]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                           S. Hrg. 116-330

       OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE WATER STORAGE AND CONSERVATION THROUGH
      REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF WATER SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE, AND
                        TESTIMONY ON PENDING LEGISLATION

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                        SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER AND POWER

                                     OF THE

                                  COMMITTEE ON
                          ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                         ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                       on

                                    S. 1570
                                    S. 1932
                                    S. 2044

                                   __________

                                 JULY 18, 2019

                                   __________

                           Printed for the use of the
                   Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

            Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                                    __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    37-841 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2021

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                   COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES

                        LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman
    JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming               JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia
    JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho                RON WYDEN, Oregon
    MIKE LEE, Utah                       MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
    STEVE DAINES, Montana                BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont
    BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana              DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan
    CORY GARDNER, Colorado               MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico
    CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi        MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii
    MARTHA McSALLY, Arizona              ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine
    LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee           CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada
    JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
                                     ------

                        Subcommittee on Water and Power

                            MARTHA McSALLY, Chairman

    JOHN BARRASSO                        CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO
    JAMES E. RISCH                       RON WYDEN
    BILL CASSIDY                         MARIA CANTWELL
    CORY GARDNER                         BERNARD SANDERS
    LAMAR ALEXANDER

                          Brian Hughes, Staff Director
                         Kellie Donnelly, Chief Counsel
                 Lane Dickson, Senior Professional Staff Member
                    Sarah Venuto, Democratic Staff Director
                    Sam E. Fowler, Democratic Chief Counsel
                    David Brooks, Democratic General Counsel

                               C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                       Page
    McSally, Hon. Martha, Subcommittee Chairman and a U.S. Senator
      from Arizona...................................................     1
    Gardner, Hon. Cory, a U.S. Senator from Colorado.................     3
    Risch, Hon. James E., a U.S. Senator from Idaho..................   106

                                   WITNESSES

    Burman, Hon. Brenda, Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S.
      Department of the Interior.....................................    47
    Brown, Marshall P., General Manager, Aurora Water, and on behalf
      of the WateReuse Association...................................    60
    Kassen, Melinda, Senior Counsel, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation
      Partnership....................................................    72
    Hipke, Wesley, Idaho Managed Recharge Program Manager, Idaho
      Department of Water Resources..................................   107
    Noble, Wade, Attorney for Yuma (Arizona) Area Irrigation
      Districts, Noble Law Office, Family Farm Alliance and National
      Water Resources Association....................................   113

              ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED

    Agribusiness & Water Council:
        Letter for the Record........................................    14
    Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, et al.:
        Letter for the Record........................................    15
    Association of California Water Agencies:
        Letter for the Record........................................    83
    Brown, Marshall P.:
        Opening Statement............................................    60
        Written Testimony............................................    62
    Burman, Hon. Brenda:
        Opening Statement............................................    47
        Chart entitled ``July 2019 Reclamation West-Wide Summary
          Precipitation and Storage Figures''........................    49
        Chart entitled ``July 2018 Reclamation West-Wide Summary
          Precipitation and Storage Figures''........................    52
        Written Testimony............................................    55
        Responses to Questions for the Record........................   129
    CalDesal:
        Letter for the Record........................................    84
    California American Water:
        Letter for the Record........................................    86
    California Association of Sanitation Agencies:
        Letter for the Record........................................    18
    California Farm Bureau Federation:
        Letter for the Record........................................    19
    Cantwell, Hon. Maria:
        Chart entitled ``U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook--Drought
          Tendency During the Valid Period'' by David Miskus, NOAA/
          NWS/NCEP/Climate Prediction Center, released on July 18,
          2019.......................................................   124
    CleanWater Services:
        Letter for the Record........................................    20
    Colorado Water Congress:
        Letter for the Record........................................    88
    Columbia Basin Development League:
        Letter for the Record........................................    21
    Contra Costa Water District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    22
    Eastern Municipal Water District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    23
    Family Farm Alliance:
        Letter for the Record........................................    25
    Feinstein, Hon. Dianne:
        Statement for the Record.....................................     4
    Friant Water Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................   136
    Gallego, Hon. Kate:
        Letter for the Record........................................    27
    Gardner, Hon. Cory:
        Opening Statement............................................     3
    Hipke, Wesley:
        Opening Statement............................................   107
        Written Testimony............................................   110
        Responses to Questions for the Record........................   133
    Idaho Water Users Association:
        Letter for the Record........................................    90
    Irrigation & Electrical Districts Association of Arizona:
        Letter for the Record........................................    29
    Irvine Ranch Water District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    30
    Kassen, Melinda:
        Opening Statement............................................    72
        Written Testimony............................................    74
        Responses to Questions for the Record........................   131
    McSally, Hon. Martha:
        Opening Statement............................................     1
    (The) Metropolitan Water District of Southern California:
        Letter for the Record........................................    92
    Monterey Peninsula Water Management District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    32
    Municipal Water District of Orange County (California) :
        Letter for the Record........................................    33
    National Association of Water Companies:
        Letter for the Record........................................    93
    National Water Resources Association:
        Letter for the Record regarding S. 2044......................    34
        Letter for the Record regarding S. 1932......................    95
    Noble, Wade:
        Opening Statement............................................   113
        Written Testimony............................................   115
    Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    97
    Placer County (California) Water Agency:
        Letter for the Record........................................    35
    Risch, Hon. James E.:
        Introduction.................................................   106
    Salt River Project:
        Letter for the Record........................................    36
    San Diego County (California) Water Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................    38
    San Francisco Public Utilities Commission:
        Letter for the Record........................................    40
    San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................    41
    (The) Santa Clara Valley Water District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    98
    Southern Nevada Water Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................   100
    South Valley Water Association:
        Letter for the Record........................................    42
    Tehama Colusa Canal Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................    43
    Trout Unlimited, et al.:
        Letter for the Record........................................   138
    Truckee-Carson Irrigation District:
        Letter for the Record........................................    44
    Truckee Meadows Water Authority:
        Letter for the Record........................................   101
    Water Infrastructure Network:
        Letter for the Record........................................   103
    Western Growers:
        Letter for the Record........................................    46

    ----------
    The text for each of the bills which were addressed in this hearing can
    be found on the committee's website at: https://www.energy.senate.gov/
    hearings/2019/7/subcommittee-on-water-and-power-hearing

       OPPORTUNITIES TO INCREASE WATER STORAGE AND CONSERVATION THROUGH
      REHABILITATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF WATER SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE, AND
                        TESTIMONY ON PENDING LEGISLATION

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2019

                                   U.S. Senate,
                       Subcommittee on Water and Power,
                     Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:49 a.m. in
    Room SD-366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Martha
    McSally, presiding.

               OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARTHA MCSALLY,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA

        Senator McSally. The hearing of the Senate Energy and
    Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power will come to
    order.
        I first want to apologize for being tardy. I was trying to
    be in a few places at once. Thanks for your patience.
        Throughout the West, water is central to everything we do.
    The infrastructure to provide and protect this water supply
    took centuries to build and has allowed our cities to grow and
    our farms to prosper. Without these dams and canals, recharge
    basins and reclaimed water plants, the American West would not
    be a home, bread basket, economic engine or worldwide
    destination that it is today. It has taken tremendous foresight
    and major investment to develop the water systems that are the
    backbone of our western communities and businesses, and they
    have been great investments, by any standard.
        In my home State of Arizona, what started as a $10 million
    federal investment in the Salt River Project in 1903 laid the
    groundwork for today's Phoenix metropolitan area which now
    contributes $250 billion in GDP to the nation. Earlier this
    year, I toured all 15 counties in Arizona in my first 90 days
    as a Senator. I saw firsthand how these major investments
    shaped the state through Hoover Dam to Lake Powell, Salt River
    Project to the Central Arizona Project. Arizona's past and
    future relies entirely on how we deliver water, and federal
    investment in these projects is therefore critical.
        When I visited Yuma County in January local water experts,
    including Wade Noble, one of our witnesses here today, laid out
    to me how the water districts responsibly maintain and manage
    Imperial Dam and related infrastructure which supplies water to
    both California and Arizona's massive agriculture economy.
        Irrigation projects have unleashed Arizona's $23 billion
    agriculture economy. The return on these investments for our
    nation is clear. It is now our turn to step up and make the
    next round of investments in our water infrastructure. We must
    ensure our existing facilities keep running and develop the
    next generation of projects that will provide water security
    for the next century. The bipartisan bills before us today will
    do just that.
        My bill, S. 2044, the Water Supply Infrastructure
    Rehabilitation and Utilization Act, which I am proud to have
    worked side by side with Senator Sinema to develop, will make
    huge strides in addressing the significant needs at the
    existing Bureau of Reclamation assets. The beneficiaries of
    these assets, local irrigators and water districts, are
    responsible for covering the costs of regular operations and
    maintenance of the infrastructure. They do so by building these
    costs into rates that water users pay throughout the year.
        As with any large-scale infrastructure project, large
    capital upgrades are needed from time to time and they are
    beyond regular operation and maintenance. We call this
    extraordinary maintenance, and it is often accompanied with a
    price tag too high to fold into a single year of rates. For
    example, Imperial Dam has upwards of $50 million in needed
    renovations. Yet, because our water districts are just
    operators and not the actual owners of the federal
    infrastructure, they don't have access to many of the
    traditional financing tools needed to fund these critical
    repairs. This was something that Wade and the team in Yuma
    brought to my attention when I visited you there, and that has
    directly resulted in this legislation. So this is
    representative government in action.
        My bill addresses this by setting up an account within the
    Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) to fund extraordinary maintenance
    projects and allows operators to repay the cost, with interest,
    over a longer period of time. Importantly, my bill modifies
    Reclamation's existing extraordinary maintenance authority to
    provide greater transparency and control to Congress and to
    stakeholders so that this authority is actually utilized as
    originally intended to get these types of repairs done. The
    bill also establishes a pilot program to modernize reservoir
    operations and increase water storage at existing dams without
    any new construction.
        While my bill looks at the needs of existing
    infrastructure, S. 1932, the Drought Resilience and Water
    Supply Infrastructure Act, which I co-sponsored with Senators
    Gardner, Feinstein and Sinema, focuses on the need for new
    infrastructure. Nearly every basin in the West will require new
    storage and supply to provide drought resilience in the face of
    population and economic growth, increasing environmental
    demands and changing runoff regimes. But the needs and
    opportunities for developing new water resources are different
    for every community. S. 1932 recognizes that fact by creating a
    broad set of tools that allow water managers to keep all
    options on the table while developing their long-term strategy.
        We are in an exciting time, and we have a real opportunity
    to move forward on water supply solutions that benefit water
    users and ecosystems. Instead of knee-jerk reactions and false
    choices between water development and the environment that have
    permeated the debate in past decades, water users and
    conservation groups are coming together to develop
    comprehensive solutions.
        I look forward to continuing this constructive approach to
    water issues and look forward to hearing from our witnesses
    today, all of whom are doing the hard work on the ground to
    develop needed water infrastructure by promoting partnerships
    rather than conflict.
        We don't have a Ranking Member here today, do we have
    anyone else who wants to make a statement?
        Senator Gardner.

                    STATEMENT OF HON. CORY GARDNER,
                       U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO

        Senator Gardner. Thank you very much, Chairman McSally, for
    the opportunity to be here today and thanks to all the
    witnesses. I particularly want to welcome the two from
    Colorado, Mr. Marshall Brown and Ms. Melinda Kassen. Thank you
    very much for all of you being here today. And Mr. Wade Noble,
    every time you say Yuma County--I am from Yuma County.
        Senator McSally. I know.
        Senator Gardner. So, you know.
        Senator McSally. But Yuma County, Arizona, is better.
        Senator Gardner. Yuma County, Colorado, it is a little bit
    cooler in Yuma County.
        [Laughter.]
        Alright.
        Senator McSally. Wonderful, thanks a lot.
        Before turning to our witnesses, I ask unanimous consent to
    add a statement from Senator Feinstein in support of S. 1932 to
    the record--
        [The statement of support from Senator Feinstein follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. --along with letters of support from 18
    national and statewide water groups and 58 water districts and
    municipalities for S. 1932 and S. 2044. These include
    Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, Irrigation and
    Electrical Districts Associations of Arizona, Salt River
    Project, Cities of Phoenix and Safford, Pima County.
        Without objection they will be placed into the record.
        [Letters of support follow:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. Alright, let's now turn to our witnesses.
        We have five great witnesses today to discuss water
    infrastructure and the three bills before us today. And I might
    add that nearly everyone on the panel here has Arizona roots,
    just saying.
        First up is the Honorable Brenda Burman, Commissioner of
    Reclamation.
        Next we will hear from Mr. Wade Noble, a water attorney
    from Yuma, a water ``sensei'' is what we like to call him, who
    represents a number of irrigation districts that rely on Bureau
    of Reclamation facilities and the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation &
    Drainage District. He also serves in leadership and advisory
    positions with the Yuma County Agricultural Water Coalition,
    Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, National Water
    Resources Association (NWRA) and the Family Farm Alliance. What
    do you do in your free time, Wade? I am glad you could be here.
    Thanks for making the trip out from Arizona and for all the
    work you do for Yuma irrigators and water resource in our
    state.
        After that, we will hear from Mr. Marshall Brown, General
    Manager for Aurora Water in Colorado. He is also representing
    the WateReuse Association and I would note, he comes from
    Aurora by way of Scottsdale. So I know that we can trust him.
        Next we will hear from Ms. Melinda Kassen, Senior Counsel
    for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.
        And finally, Mr. Wesley Hipke, Managed Recharge Program
    Manager for the Idaho Department of Water Resources. Another
    Arizona transplant, I might add, having spent nearly 20 years
    in Arizona's Department of Water Resources.
        I really did not plan this, but it is great to have a lot
    of Arizona roots on the panel, even though you are now using
    your skills to help some other states.
        Commissioner Burman, it is good to see you again. Thanks
    for being here. You are recognized for five minutes.

       STATEMENT OF HON. BRENDA BURMAN, COMMISSIONER, BUREAU OF
              RECLAMATION, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

        Ms. Burman. Thank you.
        Chairman McSally, Senator Gardner, members of the
    Subcommittee who are here with us, perhaps virtually, my name
    is Brenda Burman, Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation
    with the Department of the Interior. Thank you for providing me
    the opportunity to appear before you today.
        Before I begin my remarks, I would first like to, again,
    thank you and thank this Committee and your staff for their
    leadership and excellent quick work on the Colorado River
    Drought Contingency Plan Authorization Act this past spring. It
    was really incredible work and it is moving forward. In fact,
    just last week I was in San Diego for a signing ceremony where
    the International Boundary and Water Commission, both the
    Republic of Mexico section and the United States section,
    signed a joint report. This report describes how the United
    States and Mexico will protect Lake Mead elevations to benefit
    the Colorado River. This is really the last step in moving
    forward with our drought and scarcity plans for the Colorado
    River.
        It's a great accomplishment for cities, states, tribes and
    all the others who depend on the Colorado River and thank you.
        The Committee has my written statement, so I'll use my time
    to highlight some of the underlying areas where we think the
    Committee seeks to address in Senate bill 1932, the Drought
    Resiliency and Water Supply Infrastructure Act, Senate bill
    2044, the Water Supply Infrastructure Rehabilitation and
    Utilization Act, and Senate bill 1570, the Aquifer Recharge
    Flexibility Act.
        As the co-sponsors of these bills are aware, as a nation we
    need to invest in new and existing infrastructure. We need to
    invest in storage to increase water reliability, and we need to
    improve conveyance to secure our water supplies for future
    generations.
        Reclamation's dams and reservoirs, our water conveyance
    systems and power generation facilities are integral components
    of the nation's infrastructure and the economies of the Western
    states. This infrastructure is key to Reclamation's continued
    success. We operate just under 500 dams throughout 17 Western
    states. We impound 338 reservoirs with a total storage capacity
    of 140 million acre-feet. We are the largest wholesaler of
    water in the United States. The water we deliver irrigates ten
    million acres, so 20 percent of the farmers in the West, and
    provides drinking water to 31 million people.
        Reclamation is also the second largest hydropower producer
    in the United States. We provided some handouts that I hope are
    in front of you to help explain the backdrop of where we work.
        You'll see in front of you--one is a map of 2019, the
    hydrologic condition in the West for 2019.
        [The 2019 map follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Ms. Burman. And the other is exactly a year ago, so 2018.
        [The 2018 map follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Ms. Burman. And if you look at the two, what a difference a
    year makes.
        So if you look at the Rio Grande, last year's spring runoff
    was at 18 percent, and this year it's at 160 percent. Last year
    the Colorado River Basin was in its fifth driest year on record
    that we know about, and this year, we're at 144 percent of
    average. I think we even had some snow in June. So this is the
    backdrop we work in. We need, as water managers, to be able to
    deliver water whether it's wet or whether it's dry and there
    can be very large swings in the West.
        So just a thought to keep in mind of like, what is the
    infrastructure we need when it's a dry year like 2018 in some
    areas or it's a wet year, like it can be in 2019 and we'll see
    what we have in store for us in 2020.
        Let me give an example on the Colorado River. Despite a wet
    year, the Colorado River is in its 19th year of drought. And
    despite that, we have consistently delivered our treaty
    obligations to Mexico and we have not yet had to declare a
    shortage in the Lower Basin.
        And what is the reason for that? First, as you saw in the
    spring, a lot of cooperation between the states, the water
    districts and the two countries, a lot of water savings. But
    overwhelmingly we have a robust storage system on the Colorado
    River.
        Federal surface storage on the Colorado River is about 60
    million acre-feet meaning the federal reservoirs can store a
    combined total of four times the Colorado River's annual flow.
    If you compare that to somewhere like California, the
    Sacramento River in Northern California has about the same
    runoff as the Colorado River, only their storage is barely up
    to a year's runoff. So that means, in a time like 2017 which
    was the wettest year on record in California, we had to let
    most of that water go out of the system. And in 2018, which
    started off very dry in California and worked its way up to
    more toward an average year, we weren't able to make
    deliveries. We had to take several months where we had farmers
    who didn't know if they were going to get water or not,
    municipalities who didn't know if they could depend on our
    supplies.
        Storage is absolutely essential. Infrastructure is
    absolutely essential to what we do and how we provide reliable
    water in the system. The investment that's made in the Colorado
    system are the generations that went before us that invested in
    those systems. That's what provided the efficiency, the
    flexibility, the conservation. That's what's increased our
    water supply reliability during this 19-year drought and for
    the future.
        Across the West we look at an all-of-the-above approach. We
    encourage diversity of resources. We have many programs that
    help with that. We view water reuse, water recycling as well as
    groundwater recharge and desalinization as important parts of
    this water supply strategy.
        We'd like to work with the Committee, to keep working with
    you to strengthen these three bills that we're here to discuss
    today, and we'd like to discuss some other WIIN-related
    authorities to secure our water for future generations.
        So, thank you for your time.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Burman follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. Absolutely. I am going to do something a
    little non-traditional since we started late. Mr. Noble, I am
    going to wait to have you testify. I am going to let Mr. Brown
    testify and then I am going to let you [motioned to Senator
    Gardner] ask some questions and then we are going to continue
    on with the panel just because he has a hard stop.
        Alright, flexibility is the key to air power we used to say
    in the military.
        Mr. Brown.

    STATEMENT OF MARSHALL P. BROWN, GENERAL MANAGER, AURORA WATER,
               AND ON BEHALF OF THE WATEREUSE ASSOCIATION

        Mr. Brown. Okay, good morning.
        To start, I'd like to thank Chairwoman Murkowski, Ranking
    Member Manchin and members of the Subcommittee for inviting me
    here to speak about these issues today. I appreciate the
    opportunity to represent the City of Aurora and also the
    WateReuse Association who represent over 250 utilities and over
    300 other businesses and institutions across the country that
    implement water recycling.
        Aurora Water is a utility located east of Denver, Colorado.
    We provide drinking water, wastewater and stormwater services
    to a population of over 370,000 people.
        Aurora Water and the WateReuse Association strongly support
    the Drought Resiliency and Water Supply Infrastructure Act, or
    Senate bill 1932, and thank Senators Gardner, Feinstein,
    McSally and Sinema for their leadership on this important
    legislation. Senator Gardner has long been an advocate on
    critical water issues, and we very much appreciate your
    leadership on such.
        Meeting the water needs of a growing community in the arid
    West is challenging. Aurora's water supply infrastructure is
    extensive and complicated. Aurora owns or partners in 12
    reservoirs located throughout about a third of the State of
    Colorado, and we manage and maintain hundreds of miles of
    pipes, have three drinking water treatment plants, as well as a
    reclaimed water treatment facility.
        As most of the water supply is located west of the
    Continental Divide and most of the population is to the east,
    Aurora must transport and store water, including transporting
    over mountain ranges up to 180 miles away before it reaches our
    customers. This requires a large and concerted effort to move
    water through tunnels, pipelines and pumping facilities and
    requires that we build and maintain large reservoirs to
    effectively utilize that supply.
        Senate bill 1932 creates valuable funding programs for
    utilities like Aurora Water to help address the enormous
    capital needs required to build and maintain the infrastructure
    necessary to sustain the growing populations that we have. In
    order to ensure our ability to provide water, we must create
    robust systems that integrate multiple, increasingly complex
    components and technologies.
        For example, Aurora Water has storage capacity to meet
    three years of our annual average demand to help see us through
    variable climate and endemic droughts. This storage is
    integrated into a system that also includes our ability to
    reuse 100 recapture and reuse, essentially, 100 percent of our
    wastewater return flows. We use that for irrigation and to meet
    potable demands.
        While we've invested over $700 million in processes
    including river bank filtration, aquifer recharge and recovery
    and industry leading water treatment that includes advanced
    oxidation in order to create those reuse capabilities, we're
    not done. In order to manage increasingly variable source water
    conditions, we're planning to add over 150,000 acre-feet of
    additional storage in our system. And since we operate in
    essentially a closed loop, we're seeing increasing levels of
    salinity and we know that eventually, probably in the not too
    distant future, we're going to have to start removing the salts
    from that water in order to continue reusing it. Those types of
    needs and projects can benefit greatly from the legislation
    being considered here today.
        While the roles of government agencies may not be exactly
    the same today as they've been in the past, there remains a
    critical need for partnership at a local, state and national
    level. Almost 36 percent of the lands in Colorado are federally
    owned and systems like Aurora's, both our current or existing
    system and future system, are not possible without partnership
    and support.
        So thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to visit
    with you today about how Senate bill 1932 could be hugely
    beneficial to us and assist Aurora Water and other similarly
    situated water providers in meeting these needs into the
    future. This bill goes a long way in providing realistic and
    sustainable funding mechanisms to help us develop or expand
    these complex, multifaceted systems and solutions to address
    those ongoing water needs.
        Thank you again.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Brown follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. Thank you, Mr. Brown.
        We are going to go to Ms. Kassen next, and then we will
    allow Senator Gardner to ask some questions. We are going a
    little out of order here, Senator Risch, because we started a
    little bit late.
        Senator Risch. That is not unusual for this place.
        Senator McSally. Exactly.
        Ms. Kassen.

    STATEMENT OF MELINDA KASSEN, SENIOR COUNSEL, THEODORE ROOSEVELT
                        CONSERVATION PARTNERSHIP

        Ms. Kassen. Thank you.
        I guess the first thing I should say, Chairman, is thank
    you for letting me be on this panel when I don't have a tie to
    Arizona.
        [Laughter.]
        Senator McSally. Absolutely.
        Ms. Kassen. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
    (TRCP) is an alliance of 60 hunter, angler, outdoor recreation
    and science organizations dedicated to ensuring all Americans
    enjoy quality places to hunt and fish. TRCP appreciates this
    opportunity to testify about how to help the West build drought
    resilience in the face of decreasing water supplies and
    increasing demand.
        Well-focused, federal policies and resources will allow us
    to meet a range of water needs. Congress can incentivize water
    conservation, water sharing, innovative technologies and new
    strategies to help build a future with thriving cities and
    rural communities, diversified economies, sustainable
    agriculture and healthy rivers and watersheds that provide
    recreation and ecological benefits to residents and visitors
    alike.
        Hunters and anglers need water in the landscape. Outdoor
    recreation infuses $887 billion into the U.S. economy and is
    especially important for rural America. Fish swim in clean,
    flowing rivers and streams. Migratory birds feed and rest on
    the wetlands along our flyways. Local bird populations nest in
    the riparian corridors.
        TRCP, its partners and other NGOs recognize how many
    interests compete for the West's limited water supplies. Our
    experience shows that cooperation among diverse interests is
    the only path that leads to durable solutions.
        Recently, this Committee helped pass the Colorado River
    DCP--I'll add my voice--an example of basin-wide cooperation,
    thank you.
        An amended version of S. 1932, one of the bills you're
    considering today would build on the success of DCP. I suggest
    several modifications for your consideration.
        First, the Committee should ensure both compliance with
    state and federal laws and the support of the Governor of the
    state for Section 3, Storage Projects, at each step from
    feasibility to construction. This avoids having projects a
    state doesn't support move forward to receive federal funding,
    a scenario that may be more likely to lead to litigation than
    construction.
        Second, we'd ask the Committee to expand the eligible
    projects in Section 3 to projects that store and retain water
    in features of the landscape for later release. Just as
    restoring natural systems increases resiliency and can save
    money by diminishing the effects of coastal flooding, this
    approach can be a powerful tool for responding to drought and a
    strategy to ensure water supplies for cities and agriculture,
    and also maintaining flows and habitat for fish and wildlife.
        Like built water storage, infrastructure retains wet season
    precipitation and releases it during the dry season for use. It
    does so using the landscape. The quintessential Western
    infrastructure which stores 75 percent of the West's water is
    the mountain snowpack, but there are other systems, mountain
    meadows, wetlands, floodplains and riparian aquifers.
        Many groundwater projects in the West already use natural
    infrastructure. One, as part of the Platte River Recovery
    Implementation Program, is the Tamarack State Wildlife Area in
    Eastern Colorado, the other Yuma.
        [Laughter.]
        During spring runoff partners pump water to ponds that then
    let the water seep into the ground and move back to the river
    arriving in late summer and fall to augment low flows. The
    project improves wildlife habitat and contributes a measurable
    10,000 acre-feet of water for recovery of endangered cranes
    downstream in Nebraska.
        Another is the Cochise Conservation and Recharge Network
    along the San Pedro in Arizona, a desert river that supports
    native fish, 300 species of migratory birds and hunters from
    the Clovis people to today's bow hunters. The Cochise partners
    use 6,000 acres of land along 25 miles of river to direct
    stormwater and effluent into catchment basins that allow the
    water to infiltrate, replenishing local groundwater for
    communities and base flows for fish and wildlife.
        Third, S. 1932 authorizes over $1 billion for water
    projects, but one of the most effective and important
    strategies to combat drought and build a more resilient future
    isn't there and that's water conservation and efficiency. The
    bill includes no money for reducing water demand nor for the
    kind of voluntary, temporary compensated water demand
    management activities that will be critical in the Colorado
    River Basin to implement DCP and elsewhere in the West.
        TRCP encourages the Committee, either by reauthorizing
    existing legislation like WaterSMART or through bold, new
    programs, to add funding for conservation and efficiency to
    this package.
        Thank you for inviting me. TRCP looks forward to working
    with you and other Western water interests to make our water
    delivery system sustainable today and for a hotter, drier and
    more crowded Western future.
        My written testimony includes other suggestions, and I'd be
    happy to answer questions.
        [The prepared statement of Ms. Kassen follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. Thank you, Ms. Kassen.
        Senator Gardner.
        Senator Gardner. Thank you, Chairman McSally, and I hope I
    am not setting a bad precedent for you on the Committee by
    doing this, but thank you. I greatly appreciate it.
        Father Fitzgibbons from Regis University in Denver really
    appreciates this too, so I can catch up with his group as well.
    So thank you.
        I would ask unanimous consent for a number of letters to be
    entered into the record in support of Senate bill 1932 from the
    National Water Resources Association, the Colorado Water
    Congress, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
    California, the Water Infrastructure Network and others. I
    would just ask they be entered into the record.
        Senator McSally. Without objection.
        Senator Gardner. Thank you.
        [Letters of support for S. 1932 follow:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator Gardner. Mr. Brown, it is obviously good to see you
    here today. This is your first time testifying before Congress,
    so well done.
        I am thankful that you are here today. Aurora has an
    incredibly diverse water supply system. The Boustead Tunnel is
    a part of that system as well, I believe. Is that correct?
        Mr. Brown. Not our system.
        Senator Gardner. It is the Fry-Ark system, not the Aurora
    system. So, you know, if you ever get a chance to, as I have
    with, I think it was, partners from Aurora standing in the
    Boustead Tunnel in water that was this deep, the coldest water
    you can ever imagine--incredible engineering feat.
        But I know you are here on behalf of the Reuse Association.
    Let's focus on that.
        In the West, permitting for water storage has been
    incredibly expensive. New water storage can take years. You
    mentioned in your testimony that you started planning in 2000
    for a project you hoped to complete between 2050 and 2070. That
    increase of capacity out West for new storage has become
    increasingly difficult. I think those numbers speak for
    themselves.
        How do we then refocus on increasing supply through other
    means, as you did with Aurora and some of the other projects
    like Prairie Water system? Can you walk through the extensive
    reuse system that you have and how that impacts this?
        Mr. Brown. Yeah. The water reuse system we have, obviously,
    wastewater return flows are available year-round. So it's a
    critical supply that doesn't exactly match up with our demands,
    necessarily, and it's also got some challenges associated with
    treatment but provides huge opportunities for a consistently
    available, steady supply.
        Also though, it requires that we dampen the demand
    associated with the supply so that we can meet the needs during
    peak demand periods such as the summer when the supply doesn't
    increase compared to lower demand periods in the winter when
    the supply is still there.
        So our system actually uses a multibarrier approach, with
    very high-quality water, a fairly expensive source of supply,
    and we've shared that supply with some of our partners to the
    south.
        But again, in order to use it effectively, we'll have to
    expand the system in the future to meet increasing wastewater
    return flows and we'll also have to build storage in the system
    in order to store the water when it's available as compared to
    the seasonal demands for the supply.
        So, fantastic opportunity. It gives us the ability to
    recapture, roughly, all of our indoor wastewater return flows,
    but again, in order to utilize those, we have to store some of
    those during the non-peak demand periods to use them during
    peak demands.
        Senator Gardner. Thank you, Mr. Brown.
        Commissioner Burman, obviously great to see you again. I
    have not seen you, I don't think, since the signing of the
    historic DCP. Congratulations. That is a very important
    accomplishment made necessary, as you pointed out, by a very
    historic drought.
        Part of the agreements is studying a demand management
    program, and the basins are looking at that but it is still
    vital for us to focus as well on the supply side.
        How important is it for us to take into account an all-of-
    the-above approach as we look at water, not just storage but
    conservation, desalination, recharge to increase the water
    supply in the West?
        Ms. Burman. Senator, it's absolutely critical.
        Communities need to be looking at all of their possible
    water supplies and that is groundwater, that is conservation,
    reuse, desalinization where that's the right thing to do.
        It's creating that redundancy. So if you know in the
    system, surface water might not be there if you have several
    years of drought in a row. You can then turn back and rely on
    that groundwater or have built down your demand.
        Through WaterSMART programs, through Title 16, through
    desalinization, sort of all the programs you're looking at here
    and others, we absolutely believe in an all-of-the-above
    strategy.
        Senator Gardner. Thank you.
        Ms. Kassen, thank you again for being here, thanks for your
    work as well. I am trying to find a solution on the Good
    Samaritan language and hopefully we can have another hearing
    and opportunity on that within Congress.
        The project you identified in your testimony, dealing with
    the Platte River, talking about some of the natural
    opportunities to store water within systems. Could you talk a
    little bit more about how we could do a better job of that in
    the legislation?
        Ms. Kassen. The number one thing would be, and Committee
    staff actually circulated some language along with this draft
    bill with some potential adds with some carefully crafted
    definitions, but Section 3 talks about surface water storage
    and groundwater storage. You could add a definition and add
    natural infrastructure, water storage as well. It would not be,
    I don't think, complicated.
        And in fact, a lot of these projects, and Tamarac is one
    example, there is a pump so there is a piece of built
    infrastructure, but then the rest of the project is natural in
    that it uses the seepage and comes back to the river.
        So a lot of the natural infrastructure projects which are
    measurable are still taking advantage of pieces and using both
    some little pieces of built and a lot of the landscape to do
    the work.
        Senator Gardner. Thank you, Ms. Kassen and thank you,
    Chairman, for the accommodation. Thank you.
        Senator McSally. Absolutely.
        Next I am going to go to Senator Risch for some questions,
    and he will introduce Mr. Hipke and then Mr. Noble, you will
    clean it up.

                   STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES E. RISCH,
                        U.S. SENATOR FROM IDAHO

        Senator Risch. Well, thank you very much, Madam Chairman.
        I have a bill here that is the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility
    Act. From my friends, none of them seem to be here, but my
    friends from the East Coast don't really understand this. They
    don't understand how important water is to us, and they don't
    understand what a minimal amount of water we get.
        In Eastern Idaho we get about 11 inches total, snow and
    water and not much better upstream where Mr. Hipke is from but
    in any event, we do a lot of different things to use our water,
    to be able to do what we do in Idaho and that is to have a
    state that even though we are owned two-thirds by the Federal
    Government, we are able to do a lot of things with raising
    crops and those kinds of things. But water is absolutely
    critical.
        And one of the things that is relatively recent, and I use
    the word ``relatively,'' is recharge. It is incredibly
    important to us, particularly in Eastern Idaho where we have
    Idaho's Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer which is about the size of
    Lake Erie. Is that right, Mr. Hipke?
        [Mr. Hipke nods head in agreement.]
        Lake Erie is a pretty sizable body of water and so you
    think, well, gosh, we've got that much water, this shouldn't be
    a problem. Well, it is a problem because it is in the aquifer
    and we have become very efficient at drilling wells and taking
    water out of it in order to irrigate and do other things. So it
    is important that we monitor that aquifer and that we recharge
    it where possible, and that is what this bill is designed to
    do.
        Mr. Hipke is in charge of the programs that do the
    recharge, and he has done an excellent job of it.
        But, because as I said, two-thirds of the land is owned by
    the Federal Government and they get kind of cranky when you do
    things that you think need to be done but they don't,
    particularly if they live back East which a lot of them do--it
    is important that we have laws that allow us to do this and
    allow us to do it more smoothly.
        This bill will allow or make it more smooth to cross BLM
    land when a canal already holds an easement. Recharge will take
    place on Reclamation land and Reclamation facilities convey
    non-project water for recharge.
        These are all things that are really important to us. And I
    think Mr. Hipke will be able to tell us how important these
    things actually are for recharging this aquifer.
        So, without further ado, I would like to introduce Mr.
    Hipke, with your permission, Madam Chairman, and he can explain
    to us, if you would, how this bill will provide greater
    flexibility in the use of our beloved federal lands to get
    water to our aquifers.
        Mr. Hipke, the floor is yours.

       STATEMENT OF WESLEY HIPKE, IDAHO MANAGED RECHARGE PROGRAM
              MANAGER, IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES

        Mr. Hipke. Chairman McSally and Senator Risch, I'm honored
    to testify today on behalf of the Idaho Water Resource Board on
    S. 1570, the Aquifer Recharge Flexibility Act.
        As has been mentioned, I'm the Recharge Program Manager for
    the State of Idaho and, also has been mentioned, I previously
    worked in the State of Arizona for many years on their Managed
    Recharge Program.
        I want to thank Senator Risch of my home State of Idaho for
    his tireless work on behalf of the Board and other states in
    the West on this important legislation.
        Idaho's largest and most productive aquifer is the ESPA,
    and it underlies much of Southern and Eastern Idaho. This
    aquifer has been declining since 1952. These declines have a
    direct impact on both the groundwater and surface water users
    of the area. About one million acres of irrigated agriculture,
    as well as the cities, towns, businesses, industries and homes
    in the region rely on water pumped from this aquifer.
        In addition, the declining spring flows from the aquifer
    have an important, have an impact on about 600,000 irrigated
    acres that divert water from the Snake River. These spring
    flows also provide water for the world's largest concentration
    of commercial fish hatcheries and feed surface water to the
    Mid-Snake and Hells Canyon hydropower complexes which provide
    Idaho with clean, hydroelectric energy.
        Over much of the last two decades, Southern Idaho water
    users have been embroiled in numerous court battles and at
    least four State Supreme Court appeals over this declining
    aquifer.
        In 2015, the State of Idaho and the water users throughout
    the region reached historic agreements to stabilize and rebuild
    this aquifer. As part of those agreements, groundwater users
    collectively agreed to reduce groundwater use by 240,000 acre-
    feet annually. In addition, Idaho's legislature tasked the
    Idaho Water Resource Board with developing a program to
    recharge an average of 250,000 acre-feet annually to the ESPA.
        On average about 1.4 million acre-feet in a given year are
    available for the Snake River for aquifer recharge to the ESPA,
    mostly in the winter and during flood control operations in the
    spring.
        The managed aquifer effort is a major undertaking for the
    State of Idaho. The state is committed to constructing the
    required infrastructure needed to accomplish these goals,
    having invested nearly $20 million on these improvements to
    date. Since 2016, Idaho has recharged over 1.2 million acre-
    feet into the ESPA. Groundwater users have recharged an
    additional 400,000 acre-feet during that time--all record
    setting accomplishments for the State of Idaho. But more must
    be done to restore this aquifer and other aquifers in the
    state.
        Based on studies conducted by the Board, many optimal ESPA
    recharge sites either require the use of: (1) federally owned
    property to conduct the recharge activities, (2) existing
    irrigation canals that cross federal lands where the easement
    specifies a purpose other than aquifer recharge, or (3) canal
    systems in federal ownership by the Bureau of Reclamation where
    Congressional authorization did not include aquifer recharge.
        By utilizing existing water infrastructure, including those
    lands and canals under federal ownership to recharge our
    aquifers, we can optimize the use of these systems for multiple
    uses and benefits while maintaining the cost of aquifer
    recharge to affordable levels. However, obtaining these
    necessary federal authorizations or permits has been one of our
    main challenges.
        S. 1570, if enacted, would help provide greater flexibility
    in the Board's effort to recharge the ESPA and other aquifers
    in Idaho. This bill would authorize Reclamation and other
    federal agencies to allow the use of existing easements and the
    excess capacity in federally owned canals to deliver recharge
    water to the aquifers with a minimum of red tape, all
    consistent with state water laws and policies.
        In conclusion, managing declining aquifers is a critical
    issue for most Western states. Idaho is at the forefront in
    developing large-scale managed aquifer recharge to actively
    manage their aquifers. The enactment of S. 1570 will help Idaho
    and other Western states to use managed aquifer recharge as a
    key tool in dealing with this critical issue. Combined with the
    other water resource bills being considered here today, Idaho
    and the West will be provided additional strategic tools that
    would encourage partnerships and investment in new water
    storage, aquifer recharge, reuse, recycling, desalinization and
    our aging water delivery infrastructure.
        Again, thank you very much for this opportunity to testify
    on behalf of the Idaho Water Resource Board in support of this
    important legislation and I would stand for any questions you
    may have.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Hipke follows:]
     [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator Risch. Thanks, Mr. Hipke. Thank you.
        Senator McSally. Great, thank you. We appreciate it.
        Mr. Noble.

    STATEMENT OF WADE NOBLE, ATTORNEY FOR YUMA (AZ) AREA IRRIGATION
    DISTRICTS, NOBLE LAW OFFICE, FAMILY FARM ALLIANCE AND NATIONAL
                      WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION

        Mr. Noble. Chairman McSally, Senator Risch and the other
    unseen but appreciated members of the Water and Power
    Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the
    Water Supply Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Utilization Act,
    S. 2044. This legislation is important to Western irrigated
    agriculture and our whole nation.
        And Senator McSally, if you'll permit me for just a
    deviation in my prepared remarks, we express to you our
    appreciation for the work that you have done. Personally, we
    had the opportunity to sit down and discuss this problem. You
    came to Yuma. You observed. You listened. You learned. You
    acted. You exercised leadership. We thank you for that.
        My name is Wade Noble. I am from Yuma, Arizona. Yuma is at
    the southern end of the Colorado River. Yuma County agriculture
    provides the winter vegetables to 85 percent of the United
    States and Canada.
        Across the West, Bureau of Reclamation facilities are, on
    average, 50 years old with some facilities 100 years old. In
    general, irrigation districts operate in maintained
    Reclamation-owned facilities. These are transferred works.
    Reclamation retains ownership but transfers routine operation
    and maintenance of the irrigation systems and the extraordinary
    maintenance and capital improvements of facilities and
    infrastructure to the district.
        In some instances, there is an additional layer.
    Reclamation contracts with one district as the responsible
    party for the routine operation, maintenance and extraordinary
    maintenance and capital improvements of a shared, transferred
    work. The other irrigation districts sharing the facility or
    system become funding parties. They are not directly
    responsible for completing routine and extraordinary
    maintenance and capital improvements, but they are financially
    responsible for the work.
        Imperial Dam is an example of a shared Reclamation
    transferred work. The example shows the financial impacts to
    the funding party irrigation districts as a result of the
    extraordinary maintenance and capital improvements needed on
    aging infrastructure. Imperial Irrigation District (IID),
    located in Imperial County, California, and diverting almost
    three million acre-feet of Colorado River water for agriculture
    and Imperial County cities and towns is the responsible party
    for Imperial Dam. IID is contractually obligated to perform all
    routine and extraordinary maintenance at the dam. However, the
    Arizona and other California irrigation districts sharing
    Imperial Dam are obligated to pay their portion of the costs.
        In the next ten years the districts will spend over $50
    million on extraordinary maintenance and capital improvements.
    Because the funding parties are not the responsible party, they
    have less funding or finance options. There is difficulty in
    obtaining grant monies or seeking traditional financing.
    Bonding is especially difficult for non-responsible parties and
    smaller districts. This leaves most districts with only two
    options, increasing assessments or burning through reserves.
        The aging infrastructure account addresses extraordinary
    maintenance challenges and creates a general fund for operating
    entities and project beneficiaries seeking funds.
        While my testimony is focused on Section 2 of S. 2044, it
    is not meant to ignore the other two substantive sections.
        Section 3--authorization of appropriations for the
    Reclamation Safety of Dams Act--is important to address Western
    and national needs of water infrastructure. Appropriation of an
    additional $550 million for safety of dams will ensure
    Reclamation can financially address dam infrastructure woes, no
    pun intended.
        Section 4--Review of Flood Control Curves Pilot Project--is
    important to Western and nationwide water managers. It will
    provide tools and flexibility to flood control and reservoir
    projects and allow managing entities to react to ever changing
    climatic conditions. In Arizona, our friends and colleagues at
    the Salt River Project would benefit in the operation of
    Roosevelt Dam. If these pilot projects are successful, it will
    change how we manage systems and create programs resilient to
    climate variability.
        Considered as a whole, S. 2044 will have significant
    positive impact on water infrastructure needs and water
    resource management.
        Again, we appreciate the opportunity to testify to the
    Subcommittee. It has been a privilege and a pleasure. I am
    prepared to answer questions, but the easy ones, please.
        [The prepared statement of Mr. Noble follows:]
        [GRAPHICS NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Senator McSally. Thank you, Mr. Noble.
        We will now turn to questions, and I will start it off.
        You just explained how the challenges that we have with
    examples like Imperial Dam and others where those funding
    partners don't have any other choice but to repay in one year,
    pay back for any investment in capital improvements. You shared
    that in your written and your verbal testimony.
        Can you further explain why some of the other options that
    others may have for debt financing don't work or are too
    expensive for districts like the Wellton-Mohawk or Yuma Water
    Users' Association in cases like this?
        Mr. Noble. Sure, thank you, Senator.
        The traditional other options available include such things
    as private financing, borrowing or bonding. Those are simply
    not available to smaller districts.
        If you use private financing, they want collateral. As the
    funding parties, they don't have access to the collateral and,
    therefore, they can't pledge it. Private financing is often
    much more expensive as the interest rate is usually higher.
        If we turn to bonding, that can be quite expensive. Just
    the cost of implementing the bond measure is very high. In
    addition, there's the problem of that interest rate is higher
    and you have to commit reserves which generally are not
    sufficient to cover the entire bond.
        So, those two options, just not available.
        Senator McSally. Great, thanks.
        Now speaking from your role at NWRA and Family Farm
    Alliance, how common is this challenge of access to capital for
    water managers around the West?
        Mr. Noble. Well, in response, being prepared for this
    particular item, we chatted with several people involved
    throughout the West and we find it's very common that there are
    many situations where they simply cannot privately fund or bond
    the things that need to be done. It's not that they don't or
    that they never have, it's just that it is widespread.
        Senator McSally. Commissioner Burman, do you have anything
    to add on that?
        Ms. Burman. No. I would say that this has been a long
    discussion in the water community about how to finance, you
    know, improvements to aging infrastructure.
        And so, we tend to work with the Committee, with you and
    with our partners on all the ideas that can work there.
        Senator McSally. Great, thanks.
        And as you know, Commissioner Burman, our bill is intended
    to improve how the Bureau's extraordinary maintenance authority
    is utilized.
        Do you know, since enactment in 2009, how many times
    Reclamation has used its extended repayment authority for
    extraordinary maintenance projects at transferred works?
        Ms. Burman. I had my staff pull that up, and we came up
    with 19 instances of where we've used that in the past.
        Senator McSally. Can you walk me through the current
    process for seeking funding and extended repayment for a
    project, what avenues do Congress or customers have to weigh in
    on that process?
        Ms. Burman. So we have a directive in standard which is
    really our rules of how this works, but really, it's about
    approaching your local office of Reclamation, approaching your
    area office, talking it through, what is needed. On the
    official side, there needs to be a repayment contract that's
    signed. But I would say, you know, that can be all worked
    through.
        The most significant hurdle is usually appropriations which
    it is for all the things we do and when you work with an area
    office about a project that's coming up, if it's going to
    happen under this authority, then under the authority from
    2009, then it has to be through appropriations. So you are in
    the process and competing with all the other projects out there
    that are subject to appropriations.
        Senator McSally. Great, thanks.
        Now I want to shift to safety of dams.
        It is my understanding at some point there had been
    discussion as to whether some of the major repair items at the
    Imperial Dam qualified under safety of dams. Are large
    diversion dams like Imperial eligible for safety of dams if
    they meet other criteria?
        Ms. Burman. If they meet other criteria, all our dams, both
    large and small, have the ability to be under the safety of
    dams program.
        Senator McSally. Okay, great.
        Part of the reason that we included this increase in the
    safety of dams program is to ensure that there is enough cap
    room to accommodate any new projects added to the inventory, if
    needed.
        We don't need to hash this out now, but are you willing to
    commit to working with me to take another look at whether
    Imperial Dam is one such project?
        Ms. Burman. We would certainly work with you and work with
    the Committee and with Mr. Noble and his clients to move
    forward and look at Imperial Dam.
        Senator McSally. Okay, great. Thank you.
        I now want to talk about supply portfolio.
        Mr. Brown, hearing your testimony, the diversity of water
    supply infrastructure you are pursuing is something that stuck
    out. One of the important things that S. 1932 does is take a
    similar broad approach that puts multiple water infrastructure
    options on the table.
        Can you talk a little bit about the importance of this
    diversified approach to infrastructure for your community and
    the strengths and weaknesses of the different components?
        Mr. Brown. Yes, Senator, thank you.
        Again, water supply in the arid West is fun and
    challenging. It's not a very common resource anymore. So, the
    days of being able to find a supply that's fairly pristine and
    putting it through a treatment plant and then delivering it to
    customers, those days are pretty much gone.
        All the supplies, the quality of the supplies is
    compromised, whether you look for new sources of supply or
    whether you're looking at reuse projects.
        And so, technologies are constantly evolving and giving us
    new opportunities to deal with the water quality challenges.
    And then again, the seasonal and the annual variabilities in
    the supply also present some significant challenges. The
    supplies are not always available. At the same time, the
    demands are there.
        So we have to build systems now that are extremely robust,
    that are multifaceted and take advantage of a bunch of
    different technologies, take advantage of different types of
    storage.
        There was a little bit of testimony talking about the
    challenges, and the opportunities with storage look a little
    different too. We can't go build storage like we used to be
    able to so we have to be more sensitive there. Underground
    storage is a great option but underground storage by itself, at
    least in multiple settings, doesn't work without surface
    storage integrated with the underground storage to be able to
    get the water in and out of the systems.
        And so, really, we have to now as systems grow and expand
    and/or progress to meet existing demands, we have to have
    multiple tools in the tool box that afford us the opportunity
    to take advantage of emerging technologies, to take advantage
    of outside the box storage opportunities and create systems
    that are robust. We can't afford to let any of our water go
    wasted anymore or go unutilized when we have that water in our
    system.
        Senator McSally. Great, thanks, Mr. Brown.
        Senator Cantwell.
        Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I thank the
    witnesses for being here.
        Ms. Kassen, when you said there is a lot of hot, dry and
    more crowded West, you couldn't have been talking more
    specifically about the Pacific Northwest because that is
    exactly the way we feel.
        The most recent seasonal drought map definitely put us in
    the bullseye as far as that brown area, and it is no secret
    that this is an overlay to some of the challenges we face in
    the fire season as well.
        [The map referred to follows:]
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        Senator Cantwell. So I am very concerned that we continue
    to adopt strategies, you outlined some like the WaterSMART
    programs and things we were able to help integrate into the
    Yakima Basin program.
        Mr. Hipke, is that the right pronunciation, Mr. Hipke?
        You talked about the aquifer recharge, and so, in concept,
    I certainly support Senator Risch's bill.
        Why, at least for areas like the Pacific Northwest,
    shouldn't we be focusing more on recharge and holistic
    integration plans like we have been able to successfully do in
    Yakima?
        By that I mean, if you are going to have warmer and drier
    conditions, less snowpack, but you are still going to have
    water, recharging those aquifers is like an easy layup and then
    coordination on the conservation side and smart strategies,
    making best use of that, also seem to just go hand-in-hand.
        Do you have any comments about the recharge? You didn't
    specifically call that out.
        Mr. Hipke. Absolutely.
        I've been doing managed recharge for over 25 years now. And
    so, I'm a big fan of that.
        And having said that, having worked extensively in two
    different states now and seeing the broad differences between
    them, I am an extreme fan of adaptive management and what's
    been discussed here.
        We need a lot of tools in the tool box because the
    situation is changing rapidly. It's not a one-size-fits-all.
        Like in Idaho for the ESPA, recharge is a very good tool
    that we use, and that's not the only tool in that area. In
    other areas recharge might not be an option and then we need to
    look at storage because, as you mentioned, there's a lot of
    demand and the supply is much more variable. And we need to be
    flexible enough to take advantage of it when it's there.
        Senator Cantwell. Ms. Kassen, do you have ideas about what
    we could do to get better, let's see, evangelizing of these
    cooperative programs?
        I almost still see us in, kind of, a divided universe here.
    There are those, definitely in the Pacific Northwest, that
    believe in that cooperation, coordination, very innovative,
    very holistic. And then I see other parts of the country who
    are just continuing to fight over water.
        What can we do to better evangelize and get people to adopt
    these approaches?
        Ms. Kassen. I would say a couple of things.
        First of all, I think the Colorado River Basin--we feel
    like we're doing cooperation too. So there are other----
        Senator Cantwell. Good, good. Go ahead.
        Ms. Kassen. ----there are some places outside of the
    Northwest.
        Senator Cantwell. Good.
        Ms. Kassen. But one thing to think about in terms of
    increasing retention in the landscape and improving storage in
    non-traditional ways is there's a project that TRCP's partner,
    Trout Unlimited, worked on in Montana on Nine Mile Creek which
    was a drainage that had been adversely affected by legacy
    mining and they were in there to do restoration.
        But healthy landscapes retain more water, healthy riparian
    areas, intact systems and they actually, after they spent ten
    years doing the restoration, they got the University of Montana
    to come in and measure the amount of additional water flow that
    was coming from that restored landscape into the stream.
        I mean, it's measurable quantities of water that you can
    achieve just like frequently in some kinds of water supply
    projects and water management, the environment gets to be like
    a secondary beneficiary. In this restoration project water
    storage and supply was a secondary benefit of the restoration.
    So it goes both ways. And I think talking about the success
    stories is certainly one way to evangelize.
        Senator Cantwell. I also think having robust federal
    support programs for it so that people are incentivized on
    smart water or on restoration and, you know, doing a better job
    on coordination.
        One of the reasons we fought so hard on the fire bill to
    get new fire funding fixes is because we were doing
    unbelievable stream restoration work and then we would have a
    fire come through and knock it out. So the point was, why?
        So we have to get this coordinated and the challenges we
    face are becoming greater.
        Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks to the witnesses.
        Senator McSally. Thank you so much.
        We did have votes called, nearly 50 minutes ago, so I will
    be the last there.
        I want to ask one more question since you all made the trip
    out here.
        Mr. Noble, again, as you know the extraordinary maintenance
    account created in S. 2044 only requires Reclamation to take
    requests for funding for projects that are transferred works
    and not those that are operated by Reclamation.
        I know this is not the case for Yuma, but in your
    experience, which is vast, are districts who are responsible
    for O&M at reserved works facing similar challenges with
    repayment?
        Mr. Noble. Senator McSally, yes, they are. We have observed
    that throughout the West. There are challenges.
        The difference between reserved works and transferred
    works, as far as funding, is most often there is a sharing
    between the district and Reclamation as to the cost of the
    repairs or work that's being done, but Reclamation has the
    opportunity to appropriate for their share of the work.
        Senator McSally. Great, thank you.
        Would it make sense for us to add that to our bill?
        Mr. Noble. Yes, it would.
        Senator McSally. Reserved works?
        Mr. Noble. Yes.
        Senator McSally. Okay, great, we might follow up on that
    with you.
        Commissioner Burman, how do you feel about that?
        Ms. Burman. The more flexibility we have, the easier it is
    to work.
        Senator McSally. Great, thank you.
        I know we have a number of questions that we also still
    want to ask, and I know other members will probably then want
    to ask for the record. I really would appreciate if you all
    were willing to answer those questions as they are submitted
    for the record.
        I really appreciate everyone coming here today and, again,
    thanks for your patience and flexibility.
        It was important to hear your testimonies on these pending
    bills as we move them forward to address this important issue
    of our water infrastructure and water investments for the
    future.
        These questions may be submitted for the record before the
    close of business on Friday, and the record is going to remain
    open for two weeks. We ask that you respond in writing and they
    will be made a part of the record.
        Again, thank you for coming today. The hearing is now
    adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 11:48 a.m. the hearing was adjourned.]

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