[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 10, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WATER SUPPLY IN CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, as we have observed, Western States are 
receiving much welcomed rainfall and snowpack. Indeed, some of the side 
effects are flooding and there are many mudslides that are affecting 
communities and transportation corridors.
  This is on the heels of short rainfall years for at least the last 3 
years. This year, rainfall numbers are good. They are at a pace where 
they are at their historical average or a little above in some areas. 
This is historical average long-term over non-drought years.
  The last 3 years have seen dire water supplies for many people and 
allocations for farmers. In 2019, our lakes in California were 
basically full. You may recall in 2017, in my district, Lake Oroville 
had the spillway collapse due to lack of maintenance and checking its 
integrity over the years, but it was plumb full, 101 percent full, in 
2017.
  Our water projects in California were designed with the idea that 
they withstand 5 years of drought. With Lake Oroville being full as 
recently as 2019 and Lake Shasta nearly full as well, how is it that 
our State water projects and our Central Valley projects which are run 
by the Bureau of Reclamation--being at these high levels--that Lake 
Oroville, for example, in 2021, only 2 years after being full, was 
basically so low on water that for the first time in the history of 
that lake it did not make hydroelectric power because the water levels 
were so low.
  Lake Shasta, in 2022, an unprecedented cut in water supply, including 
to its neighbor right there in Shasta County, Anderson-Cottonwood 
Irrigation District, received zero allocation because they couldn't 
deliver enough water to make it worth their while. In over 100 years of 
the existence of that district, this is the first time that they did 
not get to irrigate it.
  These two dams were designed to withstand 5 years of drought, being 
full as recently as 2019. We had one running out in 2021 and the other 
basically being useless almost to agriculture in 2022, with drastic 
cuts all up and down the Sacramento River system.
  What is going on here?
  What is the State Water Project doing on the Feather River side, et 
cetera?
  What is the Federal Bureau of Reclamation and CDP doing on the 
Sacramento River side that has changed?
  They are not doing everything they can to hold water, even in drought 
years, that they could be holding. Why?
  It is a mystery. We have the opportunity right now with these high 
flows. We have areas of California right in the Sacramento Valley that 
are being flooded out. They are running the pumps that are at the south 
end of the delta at about 18 percent on the State side and about 67 
percent--not so bad--on the Federal level instead of taking full 
advantage of running those pumps as hard as they can and taking this 
excess water and relieving some of the flooding and putting it into a 
reservoir that will help our whole State withstand possible drought in 
the future.
  Is this a drought year?
  No, not as defined by lack of rainfall, as indeed we are at average, 
or we are above average in some areas. With the projection in January 
for a lot more rain coming, we might have a full normal water year or 
above. That would be good.
  Our leaders in government in the agencies don't seem to feel the same 
urgency. At the same time they are talking that we have flood 
emergencies, they are still maintaining we have drought emergencies--
not with this kind of rainfall.
  Yes, we have low-lake problems, but that isn't how you define a 
drought. That is how you define lake management. That is how you define 
water management. It is not helping. We need to be running, at least, 
those two sets of pumps at 99 percent or 100 percent at the delta and 
filling up the San Luis Reservoir and allocating water to those 
recharge basins so the subsidence we are having in the San Joaquin 
Valley that everybody is worried about wouldn't be happening.
  No, they want to just keep chugging along the way they are doing, 
especially on the State side. This is a disservice to all water users 
in California. At the same time, they don't really see a whole lot of 
need to cut back on environmental water that is very dubious in nature, 
if it is helping fish in the delta or anywhere else.
  Indeed, they need a change of attitude at all of these levels of 
water management. These agencies don't seem to be on the side of 
growing food. I always bring this poster along so people can understand 
how much of their food is grown in California, a high percentage of 
these crops that only come from California that Americans consume.
  If it is not grown in California, either you are not going to have it 
or you are going to have to import it from somewhere else.
  Look at this: walnuts. Walnuts are having a devil of a time right now 
in their market. Tomatoes. If you want tomato paste for your pizza and 
your pasta, where is it going to come from? We are going to have to 
import all this stuff.
  We need to have a much stronger and much smarter water policy, and 
that starts right in California, and it benefits the whole country.

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