[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 74 (Friday, May 25, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5710-S5711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 976. A bill to provide authorization and funding for the 
enhancement of ecosystems, water supply, and water quality of the State 
of California, to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, yesterday Congressman Ken Calvert from 
Riverside, CA, and I held a press conference so each of us could 
introduce a bill, Mr. Calvert in the House and I in the Senate.
  This bill I am going to introduce today for reference to committee 
addresses a very complicated and complex problem in California, and 
that is water. It is my very strong belief that the energy crisis that 
we see taking place in California is a forerunner of what is going to 
happen with water.
  The only question is when. California has a population of 34 million 
people. It is bigger than 21 other States and the District of Columbia 
put together. It is expected to grow to 50 million in 20 years.
  Our State has the same water infrastructure that it had in 1970 when 
we were about 16 million people, and every year California grows from 
700,000 to 1 million people. It was 800,000 this past year.
  We are the sixth largest economy, not in the Nation, but in the 
world. We are the No. 1 agricultural producing State in the Nation. We 
are the leading producer of dairy products, wine and grapes, 
strawberries, almonds, lettuce, tomatoes, and the list goes on and on. 
All of these need water.
  We are a growing high-tech State with an increasing need for access 
to high-quality water. We have more endangered species than any other 
State except Hawaii. And, of course, California, again, has this large 
population. Our water needs are tremendous. So we need to get ready for 
the future, and we need to do this in an environmentally sensitive way.
  If there is one lesson we can learn from California's energy crisis, 
it is that the time to address a crisis is not while it is happening 
but before it happens. California is now struggling to build more 
powerplants while also doing everything possible to reduce demand 
through increased efficiency and conservation. But because we started 
so late, we are likely going to have some serious problems this summer, 
and that is why it is even more important that we fix the water problem 
before it, too, becomes a crisis.
  Ecosystem restoration, water conservation, and improved efficiency 
can be combined with new environmentally responsible off-stream 
storage. This would allow us to improve the ecosystem and store water 
from the wet years and use it in the dry years to benefit people, the 
environment, and farmers.
  I began writing this bill last December with the aim of finding 
something to which all of the major stakeholders could agree--the large 
urban water users, the city of San Jose, the city of Los Angeles, San 
Diego, San Francisco, all of the agricultural water contractors, and a 
myriad of environmental leaders.
  I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible, after 7 years of 
trying, to get them all on the same page, let alone the same line. So 
either we do nothing and sit back and wait for a water crisis or we try 
to do the moderate, the prudent, and the effective thing.
  The bill I am sending to the desk for reference to committee is a 7-
year authorization bill. It essentially authorizes the record of 
decision of a program known as CALFED. In California, there are two big 
water projects. One is the Central Valley Water Project owned by the 
Federal Government. That is the Federal interest. The Federal 
Government built it and owns it. The other is the California Water 
Project owned by the State of California, built by Governor Pat Brown 
back in the 1960s.
  This is, in essence, a State-Federal effort to improve the water 
infrastructure, to clean up the ecosystems, and to begin to build an 
infrastructure that can handle the demands of the next 50 years.
  The bill authorizes the ecosystem restoration program, and it fully 
authorizes all of the environmental projects listed in the record of 
decision. This includes improving fish passages, restoring streams, 
rivers, and habitats, and improving water quality.

  The bill authorizes 580,000 acre feet of water in the first year 
through the environmental water account, and the bill essentially 
authorizes the first three storage projects, off-stream water storage, 
listed in stage 1 of the record of decision: Enlarging the Los Vaqueros 
Reservoir, subject to a vote of the people of Contra Costa County; 
raising Shasta Dam; and constructing the delta wetlands project which 
involves flooding two delta islands for storage and using the other two 
islands for ecosystem protection. The end result of these three storage 
projects will be 2.3 million acre feet of new water storage.
  Some reporting and financial analysis must still be completed. CALFED 
expects these projects will have no adverse impacts, so we need to get 
started to make sure they can get in the line and get going.

[[Page S5711]]

  I do not believe we can meet all of our future water needs without 
increased water storage, water storage that is environmentally benign, 
that is off stream, and that provides flexibility in the system for us 
to increase water supply, improve water quality, and enhance ecosystem 
restoration.
  Recharging groundwater, water recycling and reuse, conservation, and 
smarter use of the big pumps in the system are all tools we can use to 
help us meet our water needs.
  I am concerned this may not even be enough. We live in an area, 
though, where large new dams are extraordinarily controversial. So 
there is one thing left, and that is to take water from the wet years 
and store it in an environmentally sound way to use during the dry 
years.
  The bill I am presenting is balanced. It says, in essence, that the 
storage projects go ahead at the same time as the environmental 
projects. I believe very strongly that we are not going to be able to 
solve the problem just with environmental measures, that we need 
additional water storage as well.
  This is not a flash in the pan. I did not just arrive at this. A 
native-born Californian, I have watched this for years and years, and 
for the last 7 years in the Senate I have spent an enormous amount of 
time--probably 50, 60 meetings--with the stakeholders on all sides of 
this issue. It is my judgment that we must have this additional storage 
in addition to the ecosystems work.
  It is not going to be a perfect bill. It is a big bill. It is a 
State-Federal partnership. In my view, water and energy are the two 
essentials that can keep the California economy alive and keep its 
people flourishing. I hope it will have a favorable response in the 
committee and in this Chamber.
                                 ______