Jim Costa: “Finally, I rise, as I have on a regular basis, to update Members of the House on the situation that faces California's…”

“Finally, I rise, as I have on a regular basis, to update Members of the House on the situation that faces California's water system--the devastating drought that now has gone beyond 4 years. Today, the Shasta Lake and Folsom Lake, which are part of the Central Valley's project--two major reservoirs in the Sacramento River watershed--have enough water to supply 100 percent water allocations to farmers in the Sacramento Valley and to the San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, along with wildlife refuges in the San Joaquin Valley. We had hoped for an El Nino year. We didn't get it, but we did get between 80 and 95 percent of our normal supply, which is much better than the 5 percent of snow and rain that we received the year before. Notwithstanding that fact, the United States National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service are now proposing new efforts in recent weeks to recover species, which will impact Reclamation's ability to deliver the water that they had previously allocated. In the spring, the way the Federal and State water projects work, is that, in April, the snow depths are measured--that is about the end of our snow in California--as is the precipitation during our rain time period of the year, and they measure how much water is available to be allocated for all of the water contractors, both in the Federal service areas and in the State service areas. Yet, if the action that is being proposed 2 months later by the U.S.…”