[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 145 (Thursday, August 13, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5409-S5410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Ms. Harris):

[[Page S5410]]

  S. 4530. A bill to establish a Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program 
within the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes; to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Snow 
Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act, which I introduced 
today with Senator Harris. Representatives Josh Harder, John Garamendi, 
Jerry McNerney, Grace Napolitano, T.J. Cox, and Ami Bera--all Democrats 
from California--and Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse--both Democrats from 
Colorado--have introduced identical companion legislation in the House.
  Airborne snow observatory, ASO, technology is a snow monitoring tool 
that provides precise measurement of depth and water content for every 
square meter of snow in a watershed. The technology measures snow depth 
and water content using an airplane-mounted light detection, LiDAR, 
instrument coupled with an imaging spectrometer.
  When combined with conventional snow surveys, ASO provides a near-
perfect picture of snow water content.
  By near perfect, I mean that ASO estimates snowpack and runoff 
forecast with 96 to 99 percent accuracy. This is much better than 
current practices, which only measure snowpack and runoff with 50 to 90 
percent accuracy.
  These forecast accuracies are achieved by comparing LiDAR 
measurements of bare ground topography in the summer with multiple 
measurements of snow depth during the winter. The greatest accuracies 
are based on once-a-month flights in watersheds earlier in the winter, 
and twice monthly flights during the spring runoff period.
  The much more precise measurements of snowpack that ASO provides will 
be critical in better managing competing missions of western water 
storage reservoirs for flood control and water supply amidst a changing 
climate and growing population.
  For example, in a single year, 2018, Turlock Irrigation District used 
this technology in the Tuolumne River watershed to save 150,000 acre-
feet of water supply.
  Because they knew precisely how much snow was in the upper watershed 
of the Tuolumne, Turlock was able to avoid a release of 150,000 acre-
feet of water from Don Pedro Reservoir that otherwise would have been 
required for flood control.
  Without ASO technology, Turlock would have had to assume for safety 
purposes that the melting snow in the upper Tuolumne watershed was at 
the high end of a wide range of guesstimates using conventional 
snowpack technology. With the possibility of a big snowmelt, Turlock 
would have had to release the extra 150,000 acre feet of water.
  With water in California often costing $1000 per acre foot or more, 
errors in water-storage management can cost hundreds of millions of 
dollars in unnecessary releases from reservoirs and extra groundwater 
pumping.
  Additional ASO flights to better measure snowpack often have a high 
return on investment, by one estimate as much as 40:1 for water supply 
benefits, and 80:1 for all benefits, including hydro, recharge, flood 
control, and ecosystem benefits.
  After several years developing and refining the deployment of 
snowpack measurement technology, in December 2019, NASA concluded 
management of the-ASO program and transferred it to the private sector. 
While consistent with NASA's traditional approach to developing new 
technologies, this transfer reduces the certainty for Federal support 
of a program with significant public benefits, including improved water 
conservation, supply and delivery forecasts across the West.
  The bill establishes a snow pack forecasting program at the Bureau of 
Reclamation within the Department of the Interior.
  The Bureau shall implement the program in two phases:
  No. 1, the first step is to coordinate with other Federal agencies on 
how they will work together to improve analyses of snowpack depth. This 
interagency process will result in a report due to Congress by October 
21, 2021.
  No. 2, following the completion of the report, the Bureau will cost-
share with States, water districts, other Federal agencies and other 
partners on increased LiDAR flights and other activities in particular 
watersheds.
  This program is expected to benefit many Western States, including 
but not limited to Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains; the Front Range 
of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico; and the 
Colorado River tributaries in Utah and Arizona, and the Pacific 
Northwest.
  Fifteen million dollars would be authorized for the program from 
fiscal years 2022 to 2026.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this bill.

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