Sec. 2. Findings
853 words·~4 min read·
/bill/117/hr/3404/ih/section-2·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress finds the following: As expressed in the Water Supply Act of 1958, Congress has recognized the primary responsibilities of the States and local interests in developing water supplies for domestic, municipal, industrial, and other purposes, and that the Federal Government should participate and cooperate in these projects. There is a long and robust legal precedent of Federal deference to State primacy in water law and the legal system that States establish for resolving disputes over water use, with the Supreme Court finding in Kansas v.
Colorado that Congress cannot enforce either rule upon any State in matters of the right regulation of water rights. The entire American West and Southwest are facing forecasts of prolonged droughts that will leave States facing major water shortages and catastrophic wildfires. Recent periods of drought in the American West have also occurred with higher temperatures and reduced snowpack and led to what climate scientists recently concluded was possibly the most severe drought in California in over 1,200 years.
The Colorado River has been under drought conditions since 2000, and the chances of a megadrought striking the Southwest and central Great Plains are on the rise according to forecasts from climate scientists. Addressing water shortages today and in the future will require action from the Federal Government that respects State, local, and Tribal law, and that the policies that respond to droughts should not pit State against State, region against region, or stakeholders against one another.
Congress recognizes the range of separate, distinct Federal agencies with authorities and resources that play a role in water supply, including treatment and remediation of groundwater, surface water storage, water recycling and reuse, and other clean water infrastructure, and to avoid duplication and ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of these various Federal roles, there is a need for improved coordination, streamlining, and collaboration, both among Federal agencies and with drought-impacted States and localities.
It is the policy of the United States to respect California’s coequal goals, established by the Delta Reform Act of 2009, of providing a more reliable water supply for California and protecting, restoring, and enhancing the Delta ecosystem, and these coequal goals shall be achieved in a manner that protects and enhances the unique cultural, recreational, natural resource, and agricultural values of the Delta as an evolving place. The State of California, in CA Water Code section 85021, has established a policy to reduce reliance on the Delta in meeting California’s future water supply needs through a statewide strategy of investing in improved regional supplies, conservation, and water use efficiency;
California law directs each region that depends on water from the Delta watershed to improve its regional self-reliance for water through investment in water use efficiency, water recycling, advanced water technologies, local and regional water supply projects, and improved regional coordination of local and regional water supply efforts; and it is the intent of Congress to ensure that Federal programs, policies, and investments respect and compliment, and do not undermine or conflict with, California’s policy of reducing reliance on Delta diversions.
Federal agencies should operate the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project in California in compliance with all Federal and State laws, including biological opinions, while working with the State to maximize operational flexibility in order to deliver as much water as reasonably possible to drought-impacted areas and minimize the harm suffered by fish and wildlife as a result of drought. The Reclamation Fund was established in 1902 with the express purpose of providing for the construction and maintenance of water infrastructure for the economic development of the Western States and territories, with revenues deposited into the fund out of public land sales within these Western States and territories.
Since 1902, the Reclamation Fund has been supplemented with additional revenues from Federal water resources development and mineral and natural resource leases on Federal lands, such that the surplus within the Reclamation Fund now exceeds $17,000,000,000. The Reclamation Fund represents a transfer of a portion of receipts from Federal lands and Federal natural resources in the West back to the West for water development, and the Reclamation Fund’s surplus should be used to assist the West in meeting its water needs for public health and safety, for expanding water recycling, reuse, and reclamation, and for meeting the emergency needs of communities impacted by drought.
The Federal funding provided in this Act will support near-term and long-term water supply reliability for the Western States, including through the use of the Reclamation Fund surplus to support long-term water infrastructure investment. The Federal funding authorized in title I of this Act can help provide additional water supplies to the Western States in the near-term, including 650,000 acre-feet per year in additional average yield through water reuse projects, 350,000 acre-feet per year in additional average yield through water storage projects, and 100,000 acre-feet per year in additional average yield through water desalination projects.
Robust Federal investment and support is needed to assist the Western States in developing future drought resiliency in the face of climate change, which will continue to exacerbate existing water supply challenges in an already arid region of the country.