California Water Legislation

Floor Speech

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Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to work together on behalf of the people of California to get water legislation passed that will help fix California's broken water system.

Yes, Californians have been divided historically for decades for a number of reasons on how to fix our broken water system, but that must change because we are living on borrowed time, and nothing has explained that more clearly than the last 4 years of drought conditions.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on Senator Dianne Feinstein's water legislation, the California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act. This week, Congressman John Garamendi introduced the House companion bill, legislation that I support as well.

The California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act would provide $1.3 billion in funding and support for desalinization, recycling efforts, and water storage projects like Temperance Flat and the expansion of San Luis Reservoir.

The bill would also direct State and Federal agencies to maximize water supplies during the short term, while not violating existing environmental laws that protect threatened and endangered species.

Additionally, the legislation includes language that would generate and provide for scientifically managed reservoir operations which would allow us to, for example, raise the spillway gates at New Exchequer Dam in Merced County, providing an additional 50,000 acre-feet of water storage for the Merced Irrigation District.

Finally, the bill would complement the ongoing efforts made by the recent passage of a State water bond that I supported--$2.7 billion for additional water storage in California.

In order to get California's water bill passed and signed into law, our Nation's Senators must understand that there is support for Senator Dianne Feinstein's legislation among California Representatives in the House. That is why I am a cosponsor of the House companion legislation, H.R. 5247.

Now, there is room for modifications and changes in Senator Feinstein's legislation as well as the House bill, especially provisions that deal with short-term fixes that would provide more accountability on how California's water system is operated year to year. But if Congress is going to be able to provide some relief to the people of California, which is a template for Western States--and, I would say, the world--we must continue to move forward, and the passage of S. 2533 would undoubtedly be an important step in the right direction.

Once S. 2533 is passed out of the Senate, the House and the Senate will have the opportunity to go to conference to resolve the differences that exist in these water bills by each of the Chambers. That is the normal process under which we usually conduct business.

I have consistently fought to bring more water to our San Joaquin Valley, and that includes supporting the California water bill that the House passed last year, but we need to use all the water tools in our water toolbox to fix the entire State's water needs.

It is my hope that my colleagues will put aside their political differences which, for too long, have been a part of the problem and join me in supporting the California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief Act, because fixing California's water system is dependent upon it. If we don't pass this legislation and we don't work with Governor Brown in California, we cannot fix this broken water system.

So, finally, what is this about? It is about investing in our infrastructure. We are living off the investments our parents and our grandparents made a generation ago. This is Infrastructure Week. We ought to be talking about investing in our infrastructure, not only in California, but around the country.

What else is this about? It is about helping the environment because, notwithstanding the opposition to this legislation, the status quo is only resulting in further deterioration of the environment.

Finally, what else is this about? It is about the reliability of our water supply to maintain our farms. Maintaining our farms, after all, is a part of America's national security. We don't think about it that way, but having reliable, cost-effective food on America's dinner table every night is about our national security. So it is about the sustainability, therefore, of our food supply and our way of life.

If we are going to fix this, we have to come together. We have to work together. We have to get beyond our differences and beyond our talking points.

If Congress is going to get anything done, we, in California, on our water fixes, must come together.

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