[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13937]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WATER AND DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, as we come back from 
the August recess, I would like to speak on an issue that hits very 
close to home and to the Southwestern States--yes, the Southwestern 
States--and this is the drought.
  The drought in particular that is facing California is the worst one 
recorded in history in our State, and I believe it will define this 
era.
  My home State is entering its fourth year of consecutive drought, 
with nearly 93 percent of residents experiencing severe droughts, and 
there is no foreseeable end in the future.
  The lack of water in California is so serious that our Governor Jerry 
Brown declared a state of emergency and asked that all residents cut 
back on water 25 percent. Even with us hitting that, a recent study 
estimates that it will take at least 11 million gallons of water to 
replenish our drought losses.
  Water conservation and infrastructure is a life or death issue, not 
just for the residents of my district, but for all of California. 
Without water infrastructure, farmers in the Central Valley cannot 
adequately grow and sell their crops; the price of foodstuff 
skyrockets; wildfires rage and destroy acres of property; State energy 
production is crippled; the economy slows; and the list goes on and on.
  While other areas of California are just now setting the initial 
framework for water conservation and recycling projects, my home 
district recycles almost 70 percent of the water that we use both in 
business and at home.
  How are we able to do that? Well, when I came here 19 years ago, I 
championed a project called the Groundwater Replenishment System, and 
it is located in Orange County. It is the water table underneath our 
homes.
  This system recycles treated waste water into clean drinking water, 
which exceeds Federal and State standards; and it has produced over 160 
trillion gallons of new water and serviced millions of Orange County 
residents since its creation.
  This system has become the largest reclamation project in the world. 
In fact, people from around the world and from across our great States 
come to take a look at how we replenish our water supply.
  Legislation to fund projects like our groundwater replenishment 
system--well, it should be commonsense to fund those. However, the 
drought has continued in the past 4 years, and there has been no 
meaningful action on infrastructure improvements to move water, to 
reclaim water, to save water.
  While residents of California are feeling the effects of our historic 
drought, this Chamber continues to stall on meaningful drought relief 
and water infrastructure legislation. Back in my home district, I have 
held numerous briefings about the drought and recognized community 
members who are cutting back and being more efficient with their water.
  I recently spent part of this August recess meeting with community 
members of the Central Valley to discuss water storage and recycling 
projects.
  In this Congress, I have cosponsored the Drought Recovery and 
Resilience Act of 2015. It is commonsense legislation which addresses 
innovative water financing, it improves water infrastructure and water 
management, and it assists in planning for future droughts.
  The residents of my State have been doing their part to conserve the 
water; so now, it is time for Washington, D.C., to help us to do what 
is right for California and to do what is right for the other 
Southwestern States.
  While the House Republicans are bickering amongst themselves to avoid 
another embarrassing government shutdown, I will continue to fight for 
meaningful water infrastructure to secure the water independence of 
future generations because with water comes growth and California will 
grow.

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