[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 86 (Thursday, May 24, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S6852]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 1474. A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to plan, 
design and construct facilities to provide water for irrigation, 
municipal, domestic, and other uses from the Bunker Hill Groundwater 
Basin, Santa Ana River, California, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
to authorize the Riverside-Corona feeder. This project, which is being 
undertaken by Western Municipal Water District, would provide one of 
California's fastest growing but drought prone regions, with 40,000 
acre-feet of new supply at a reasonable cost of approximately $370 per 
acre foot. The project would efficiently integrate groundwater storage 
with existing surface supply management.
  The purpose of the Riverside-Corona feeder water supply project is to 
capture and store new water in the underground aquifer in wet years in 
order to increase water supply, reduce water costs, and improve water 
quality. The project will include about 20 wells and 28 miles of 
pipeline. Studies have shown the safe annual yield of the aquifer is 
about 40,000 acre-feet.
  The project would allow locally stored water to replace the need to 
import water from Colorado River and State water project sources in 
times of drought or other shortages. The project proposes to manage the 
ground water levels by the construction of ground water wells and 
pumping capacity to deliver the pumped ground water supply to water 
users. A new water conveyance pipeline is also proposed that will serve 
western Riverside County.
  For water users, dependence on imported water in dry years will be 
reduced, water costs will be reduced, and water reliability will be 
improved.
  There are also very important environmental remediation aspects of 
the project. Up to half of the wells would be placed within plumes of 
VOCs and perchlorate. These wells could remediate about 20,000 acre-
feet of currently contaminated water per year. Detailed feasibility 
studies and environmental reports have been prepared and approved by 
Western Municipal Water District and certified by the State of 
California.
  The California State Water Resources Control Board recognizes that 
the Riverside Corona feeder is an important project, recently awarding 
it $4.3 million from proposition 50 competitive grant funds.
  Because water agencies understand that the project is integral to 
regional water planning, the Riverside-Corona feeder has the support of 
agencies upstream in San Bernardino County and downstream in Orange 
County. This bill is also supported by and fully consistent with the 
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California's Integrated 
Resource Plan, the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority's Integrated 
Watershed Plan, and the water management plans for the cities of 
Riverside, Norco and Corona as well as the Elsinore Valley Municipal 
Water District.
  This is a bipartisan initiative, as witnessed by the list of 
cosponsors of the House version of the bill I introduce today. I urge 
my colleagues to support this bill to help meet the West's water supply 
needs and to reduce our dependence on the Colorado River.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1474

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Riverside-Corona Feeder 
     Water Supply Act''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
     apply:
       (1) District.--The term ``District'' means the Western 
     Municipal Water District, Riverside County, California.
       (2) Project.--The term ``Project'' means the Riverside-
     Corona Feeder Project and associated facilities.
       (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.

     SEC. 3. PLANNING, DESIGN, AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE RIVERSIDE-
                   CORONA FEEDER.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary, in cooperation with the 
     Western Municipal Water District, is authorized to 
     participate in the planning, design, and construction of a 
     water supply project, the Riverside-Corona Feeder, which 
     includes 20 groundwater wells, groundwater treatment 
     facilities, water storage and pumping facilities, and 28 
     miles of pipeline in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, 
     California.
       (b) Agreements and Regulations.--The Secretary may enter 
     into such agreements and promulgate such regulations as are 
     necessary to carry out this section.
       (c) Federal Cost Share.--
       (1) Planning, design, construction.--The Federal share of 
     the cost to plan, design, and construct the project described 
     in subsection (a) shall be not more than 25 percent of the 
     total cost of the project, not to exceed $50,000,000.
       (2) Studies.--The Federal share of the cost to complete the 
     necessary planning studies associated with the project 
     described in subsection (a) shall not exceed 50 percent of 
     the total study cost and shall be included as part of the 
     limitation on funds provided in paragraph (1).
       (d) In-Kind Services.--In-kind services performed by the 
     Western Municipal Water District shall be part of the local 
     cost share to complete the project described in subsection 
     (a).
       (e) Limitation.--Funds provided by the Secretary under this 
     section shall not be used for operation or maintenance of the 
     project described in subsection (a).
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated, from funds in the Treasury not otherwise 
     appropriated, the Federal cost share described in subsection 
     (c).
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