Water Supply, Reliability, and Environmental Improvement Act

WATER SUPPLY, RELIABILITY, AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2004)

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Mr. CALVERT. I thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, today's consideration of this bill is a giant step forward in resolving California's water supply problems. Our water security is a critically important issue. In California alone in the last 2 decades, the population has grown over 30 percent while the water supply in storage has increased by a mere 2 percent. Over the next 15 years, California must reduce its dependence on the Colorado River by 15 percent while the population in California is projected to grow by yet another 30 percent. California's Department of Water Resources estimates that the gap between water supply and demand in the State will total 2.4 million acre-feet in normal years of rainfall and up to 6.2 million acre-feet in drought years. When you consider that a family of five uses an average of one acre-foot of water per year, it is not that difficult to imagine how destabilizing such shortages would be to California and to other western States.

We have come a long way over the last few years in assuring a reliable water supply for California. Since I have been chairman of the Subcommittee on Water and Power, we have conducted many field hearings in California, legislative hearings here in Washington, markups and too many meetings to count to get to where we are today. Today's bill is a culmination of the work and deliberation by many of us over the years. Since 1995, I have worked to bring certainty and a balanced road map for water use in California and the West. Since this bill passed the House several months ago, I have worked with the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo), Senator Feinstein, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), and, of course, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano) and many others who have worked hard to bring this bill to the floor.

The original intent of CALFED was to provide a balance to a complex water delivery system. H.R. 2828 achieves this goal. Under this bill, the environment, recreation, drinking water, agriculture, and industry all get better together. As our distinguished colleague from California (Mr. Pombo) has stated, this bill makes historic strides in water-quality improvements throughout the entire State of California. Improved water quality helps everybody across the board. We also create new water supplies for Northern and Southern California, and we enhance surface storage to improve our water quality and supply.

Lastly, I want to thank Governor Schwarzenegger's participation recently to assure us that these feasibility reports that are in the record of decision will move forward where we can have a balanced and completed project and that we can meet our future with assurance. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.