I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4389

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to provide 

water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and other uses from 

the Santa Margarita River, California, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2004

Mr. ISSA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, 

military, and other uses from the Santa Margarita River, 

California, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

4 For the purposes of this section, the following defini5 tions apply: 
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1 (1) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the 

2 Fallbrook Public Utility District, San Diego County, 

3 California. 

4 (2) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Project’’ means the 

5 impoundment, recharge, treatment, and other facili6 ties the construction, operation, and maintenance of 

7 which is authorized under subsection (b). 

8 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF LOWER 

9 SANTA MARGARITA CONJUNCTIVE USE 

10 PROJECT. 

11 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting pursu12 ant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 

13 1902; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or sup14 plementary thereto, as far as those laws are not incon15 sistent with the provisions of this Act, is authorized to 

16 construct, operate, and maintain to make the yield of the 

17 Lower Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project to be lo18 cated below the confluence of De Luz Creek with the 

19 Santa Margarita River on Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, the 

20 Fallbrook Annex of the Naval Weapons Station, and sur21 rounding lands within the service area of the District 

22 available for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and 

23 other uses for the District and such other users as herein 

24 provided. 
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1 (b) CONDITIONS.—The Secretary of the Interior may 

2 construct the Project only after the Secretary of the Inte3 rior determines that the following conditions have oc4 curred: 

5 (1) The District has entered into a contract 

6 under section 9(d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 

7 1939 to repay to the United States appropriate por8 tions, as determined by the Secretary, of the actual 

9 costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the 

10 Project, together with interest as hereinafter pro11 vided. 

12 (2) The officer or agency of the State of Cali13 fornia authorized by law to grant permits for the ap14 propriation of water has granted such permits to the 

15 Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the De16 partment of the Navy and the District as permitees 

17 for rights to the use of water for storage and diver18 sion as provided in this Act, including approval of all 

19 requisite changes in points of diversion and storage, 

20 and purposes and places of use. 

21 (3) The District has agreed that it will not as22 sert against the United States any prior appropria23 tive right the District may have to water in excess 

24 of the quantity deliverable to it under this Act, and 

25 will share in the use of the waters impounded by the 
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1 Project on the basis of equal priority and in accord2 ance with the ratio prescribed in section 4(b). This 

3 agreement and waiver and the changes in points of 

4 diversion and storage under paragraph (2), shall be5 come effective and binding only when the Project 

6 has been completed and put into operation. 

7 (4) The Secretary of the Interior has deter8 mined that the Project has economic and engineer9 ing feasibility. 

10 SEC. 3. COSTS. 

11 The Department of the Navy shall not be responsible 

12 for any costs in connection with the Project, except upon 

13 completion and then shall be charged in reasonable pro14 portion to its use of the Project under regulations agreed 

15 upon by the Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the 

16 Interior. 

17 SEC. 4. OPERATION; YIELD ALLOTMENT; DELIVERY. 

18 (a) OPERATION.—The operation of the Project may 

19 be by the Secretary of the Interior or otherwise as agreed 

20 upon by the Secretaries of the Interior and the Navy and 

21 the District, under regulations satisfactory to the Sec22 retary of the Navy with respect to the Navy’s share of 

23 the impounded water and national security. 

24 (b) YIELD ALLOTMENT.—Except as otherwise agreed 

25 between the parties, the Department of the Navy and the 
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1 District shall participate in the water impounded by the 

2 Project on the basis of equal priority and in accordance 

3 with the following ratio: 

4 (1) 60 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 

5 to the Secretary of the Navy. 

6 (2) 40 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 

7 to the District. 

8 (c) CONTRACTS FOR DELIVERY OF WATER.—

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary of the Navy 

10 certifies that the Secretary does not have immediate 

11 need for any portion of the 60 percent yield allotted 

12 under subsection (b), the official agreed upon to ad13 minister the Project may enter into temporary con14 tracts for the delivery of the excess water. 

15 (2) FIRST RIGHT FOR EXCESS WATER.—The 

16 first right of the Secretary of the Navy to demand 

17 that water without charge and without obligation on 

18 the part of the United States after 30 days notice 

19 shall be included as a condition of contracts entered 

20 into under this subsection. The first right to water 

21 available under paragraph (1) shall be given the Dis22 trict, if otherwise consistent with the laws of the 

23 State of California. 

24 (3) DISPOSITION OF FUNDS.—Moneys paid in 

25 to the United States under a contract under this 
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1 subsection shall be covered into the general Treasury 

2 or to the Secretary of the Navy, as services in lieu 

3 of payment for operation and maintenance of the 

4 Project, and shall not be applied against the indebt5 edness of the District to the United States. 

6 (4) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGA7 TIONS RELATED TO WATER YIELD.—The rights and 

8 obligations of the United States and the District re9 garding the ratio or amounts of Project yield deliv10 ered may be modified by an agreement between the 

11 parties. 

12 SEC. 5. REPAYMENT OBLIGATION OF THE DISTRICT. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The general repayment obligation 

14 of the District (which shall include interest on the 

15 unamortized balance of construction costs of the Project 

16 allocated to municipal and domestic waters at a rate equal 

17 to the average rate, which rate shall be certified by the 

18 Secretary of the Treasury, on the long-term loans of the 

19 United States outstanding on the date of this Act) to be 

20 undertaken pursuant to section 2 shall be spread in an21 nual installments, which need not be equal, over a period 

22 of not more than 56 years, exclusive of the development 

23 period, or as near thereto as is consistent with the oper24 ation of a formula, mutually agreeable to the parties, 
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1 under which the payments are varied in the light of factors 

2 pertinent to the irrigators’ ability to pay. 

3 (b) DEVELOPMENT PERIOD.—The development pe4 riod shall begin in the year in which water for use by the 

5 District is first available, as announced by the Secretary 

6 of the Interior or the Treasury, and shall end in the year 

7 in which the Project’s yield to the District exceeds 6,000 

8 acre-feet per annum. During the development period water 

9 shall be delivered to the District under annual water rental 

10 notices at rates fixed by the Secretary of the Interior or 

11 the Treasury and payable in advance, and any moneys col12 lected in excess of operation and maintenance costs shall 

13 be credited to repayment of the capital costs chargeable 

14 to the District and the repayment period fixed herein shall 

15 be reduced proportionately. 

16 (c) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATION BY

17 AGREEMENT.—The rights and obligations of the United 

18 States and the District regarding the repayment obliga19 tion of the District may be modified by an agreement be20 tween the parties. 

21 SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTE22 NANCE. 

23 The Secretary may transfer to the District, or a mu24 tually agreed upon third party, the care, operation, and 

25 maintenance of the Project under conditions satisfactory 
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1 to that Secretary and the District, and with respect to 

2 the portion of the Project that is located within the bound3 aries of Camp Pendleton, satisfactory also to the Secretary 

4 of the Navy. If such a transfer takes place, the District 

5 shall be entitled to an equitable credit for the costs associ6 ated with the Secretary’s proportionate share of the oper7 ation and maintenance of the Project. The amount of such 

8 costs shall be applied against the indebtedness of the Dis9 trict to the United States. 

10 SEC. 7. SCOPE OF ACT. 

11 For the purpose of this Act, the basis, measure, and 

12 limit of all rights of the United States pertaining to the 

13 use of water shall be the laws of the State of California. 

14 That nothing in this Act shall be construed—

15 (1) as a grant or a relinquishment by the 

16 United States of any rights to the use of water that 

17 it acquired according to the laws of the State of 

18 California, either as a result of its acquisition of the 

19 lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and 

20 adjoining naval installations, and the rights to the 

21 use of water as a part of that acquisition, or through 

22 actual use or prescription or both since the date of 

23 that acquisition, if any; 
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1 (2) to create any legal obligation to store any 

2 water in the Project, to the use of which the United 

3 States has such rights; 

4 (3) to constitute a recognition of, or an admis5 sion that, the District has any rights to the use of 

6 water in the Santa Margarita River, which rights, if 

7 any, exist only by virtue of the laws of the State of 

8 California; or 

9 (4) to require the division under this Act of 

10 water to which the United States has such rights. 

11 SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON OPERATION AND ADMINISTRA12 TION. 

13 Unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the 

14 Navy, the Project—

15 (1) shall be operated in a manner which allows 

16 the free passage of all of the water to the use of 

17 which the United States is entitled according to the 

18 laws of the State of California either as a result of 

19 its acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph 

20 H. Pendleton and adjoining naval installations, and 

21 the rights to the use of water as a part of those ac22 quisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or 

23 both, since the date of that acquisition, if any; and 

24 (2) shall not be administered or operated in any 

25 way which will impair or deplete the quantities of 
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1 water the use of which the United States would be 

2 entitled under the laws of the State of California 

3 had the Project not been built. 

4 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any 

6 money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise 

7 appropriated, the following: 

8 (1) $60,000,000 (the current estimated con9 struction cost of the Project, plus or minus such 

10 amounts as may be indicated by the engineering cost 

11 indices for this type of construction); and 

12 (2) such sums as may be required to operate 

13 and maintain the said project. 

14 SEC. 10. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

15 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act and periodically thereafter, the Attorney Gen17 eral, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of 

18 the Navy shall each report to the Congress regarding if 

19 the conditions specified in section 2(b) have been met and 

20 if so, the details of how they were met.

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