[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 4, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H1552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CONGRESS CAN'T TAKE WATER THAT DOESN'T EXIST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Bera) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERA of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in 
opposition of H.R. 3964, the so-called Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley 
Emergency Water Delivery Act.
  Mr. Speaker, California is suffering its worst water crisis in modern 
history. This is a 1 in 500-year drought. For the third year in a row, 
dry weather conditions and drought-like conditions are hurting so many 
families in California--farmers, small businesses. If you need to see 
how bad things have gotten, look at Folsom Lake in my district. It is 
dry. Over 500,000 residents in my community rely on Folsom Lake as the 
source of its water. This is how bad it has gotten.
  We are doing everything we can to conserve water, but you can't take 
water when it doesn't exist, and that is why H.R. 3964 is such a bad 
bill. It is a bill that is taking what doesn't exist. It doesn't create 
any new water; it just tries to move water from one community to 
another, but it doesn't exist. You can't take water that is not there. 
In fact, let me show you how bad things have gotten.

                              {time}  1045

  The snowpack in California in the Sierras is the source of water for 
over 500 million Californians. It is what we rely on. It is our biggest 
reservoir.
  You can see what the snowpack looked like January 2013. Here it is. 
You got snow right here--that is our biggest reservoir--and this is in 
the middle of the drought. Here is what it looks like today, January 
2014. It is not there. The snow is not there.
  So H.R. 3964 suggests taking water that doesn't exist. It is a bad 
bill. You can't falsely promise water delivery that doesn't exist. The 
water is not there.
  Here is what my suggestion is to my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle.
  Water is not about Democrats or Republicans. This is a solution that 
we have to come together. It is about protecting our communities. 
California is going to go through a devastating summer if we don't come 
together immediately as Democrats and Republicans to look at how we can 
conserve water and look for creative solutions on recycling water. But 
we've got to do this together--not pitting one region against another, 
not pitting one community against another. We have to come up with 
creative solutions. We can't just look at today's challenge. We have 
got to do that. That is an immediate issue. But we have also got to 
start discussing the future of water in California, looking at issues 
like storage, looking at issues like water recycling, looking at 
creative solutions because it is dry.
  With that, let's come together as Democrats and Republicans, folks 
from the north State and the south State, and let's not pit one 
community against another. Let's solve this issue today for our 
children.

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