Jared Huffman: “When I hear my colleagues across the aisle continually describe outflow through the delta estuary as water that is…”

“When I hear my colleagues across the aisle continually describe outflow through the delta estuary as water that is somehow wasted and available to be taken for any purpose, it requires us often to remind them that this delta water system without that outflow would not be available to millions of Californians for drinking water and it would not be available to the Central Valley for agricultural irrigation because that outflow maintains salinity control and water quality in this very complex water system. It is also incorrect--and, yet, we continue to hear it regularly-- that huge amounts of water in the last few years have been wasted for environmental purposes. The State Water Resources Control Board in California estimates that, in 2014, only 4 percent of all runoff in the bay-delta watershed flowed into the San Francisco Bay solely for environmental protection, again, because there are other values, other benefits, to this outflow that sustains water quality and other values in the system. In 2015, the State estimates that it was only 2 percent of the runoff in the watershed that made it through the system for environmental purposes only. It is important that we bear those facts in mind. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from California has 45 seconds remaining.”