Ken Calvert: “Mr. Speaker, today's consideration of this bill is a giant step forward in resolving California's water supply problems.…”

“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.”