[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 182 (Friday, November 3, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CALIFORNIA WATER IS IMPORTANT FOR THE NATION'S FOOD SUPPLY

  (Mr. LaMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to point out that, once again, 
our water situation in California is extremely important to the whole 
country for our food supply.
  Like these products you see here, many, many crops that are grown in 
California supply 90 to 99 percent of what Americans will consume; 
otherwise, they would be imported.
  Why is that important? Because if our water supply in California 
isn't allowed to go to agriculture, instead more and more environmental 
water, more and more water just allowed to flow down the streams 
without being captured in water storage, we don't get these crops, we 
don't have an economy, and the land turns into something much less 
productive.
  What we need is to continue to focus on saving water in California 
and allowing it to flow to agriculture, more water storage projects, 
and updating the 1960s-1970s manuals that guide how government saves 
water.
  Yes, we had an amazing amount of water last year, but still two of 
our large reservoirs only reached 50 percent and 80 percent full, even 
with all that. Water management is extremely important when we manage 
it for people.

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