108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4389

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to confor other purposes. from the Santa Margarita River, California, and municipal, domestic, military, and other uses struct facilities to provide water for irrigation,

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4389

AN ACT

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,
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1 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS.

2 For the purposes of this section, the following defini3 tions apply:

4 (1) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the

5 Fallbrook Public Utility District, San Diego County,

6 California.

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

8 impoundment, recharge, treatment, and other facili9 ties the construction, operation, and maintenance of

10 which is authorized under subsection (b).

11 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF LOWER

12 SANTA MARGARITA CONJUNCTIVE USE

13 PROJECT.

14 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting pursu15 ant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17,

16 1902; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or sup17 plementary thereto, as far as those laws are not incon18 sistent with the provisions of this Act, is authorized to

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

20 Lower Santa Margarita Conjunctive Use Project to be lo21 cated below the confluence of De Luz Creek with the

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

23 Fallbrook Annex of the Naval Weapons Station, and sur24 rounding lands within the service area of the District

25 available for irrigation, municipal, domestic, military, and
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1 other uses for the District and such other users as herein

2 provided.

3 (b) CONDITIONS.—The Secretary of the Interior may

4 construct the Project only after the Secretary of the Inte5 rior determines that the following conditions have oc6 curred:

7 (1) The District has entered into a contract

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

9 1939 to repay to the United States appropriate por10 tions, as determined by the Secretary, of the actual

11 costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the

12 Project, together with interest as hereinafter pro13 vided.

14 (2) The officer or agency of the State of Cali15 fornia authorized by law to grant permits for the ap16 propriation of water has granted such permits to the

17 Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the De18 partment of the Navy and the District as permitees

19 for rights to the use of water for storage and diver20 sion as provided in this Act, including approval of all

21 requisite changes in points of diversion and storage,

22 and purposes and places of use.

23 (3) The District has agreed that it will not as24 sert against the United States any prior appropria25 tive right the District may have to water in excess
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1 of the quantity deliverable to it under this Act, and

2 will share in the use of the waters impounded by the

3 Project on the basis of equal priority and in accord4 ance with the ratio prescribed in section 4(b). This

5 agreement and waiver and the changes in points of

6 diversion and storage under paragraph (2), shall be7 come effective and binding only when the Project

8 has been completed and put into operation.

9 (4) The Secretary of the Interior has deter10 mined that the Project has economic, environmental,

11 and engineering feasibility.

12 SEC. 3. COSTS.

13 The Department of the Navy shall not be responsible

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

15 completion and then shall be charged in reasonable pro16 portion to its use of the Project under regulations agreed

17 upon by the Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the

18 Interior.

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

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

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

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

23 the District, under regulations satisfactory to the Sec24 retary of the Navy with respect to the Navy’s share of

25 the impounded water and national security.
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1 (b) YIELD ALLOTMENT.—Except as otherwise agreed

2 between the parties, the Department of the Navy and the

3 District shall participate in the water impounded by the

4 Project on the basis of equal priority and in accordance

5 with the following ratio:

6 (1) 60 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted

7 to the Secretary of the Navy.

8 (2) 40 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted

9 to the District.

10 (c) CONTRACTS FOR DELIVERY OF WATER.—

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

12 certifies that the Department of the Navy does not

13 have immediate need for any portion of the 60 per14 cent yield allotted under subsection (b), the official

15 agreed upon to administer the Project may enter

16 into temporary contracts for the delivery of the ex17 cess water.

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

19 first right of the Secretary of the Navy to demand

20 that water without charge and without obligation on

21 the part of the United States after 30 days notice

22 shall be included as a condition of contracts entered

23 into under this subsection. The first right to water

24 available under paragraph (1) shall be given the Dis-
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1 trict, if otherwise consistent with the laws of the

2 State of California.

3 (3) DISPOSITION OF FUNDS.—Moneys paid to

4 the United States under a contract under this sub5 section shall be covered into the general Treasury or

6 to the Secretary of the Navy, as services in lieu of

7 payment for operation and maintenance of the

8 Project, and shall not be applied against the indebt9 edness of the District to the United States.

10 (4) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGA11 TIONS RELATED TO WATER YIELD.—The rights and

12 obligations of the United States and the District re13 garding the ratio or amounts of Project yield deliv14 ered may be modified by an agreement between the

15 parties.

16 SEC. 5. REPAYMENT OBLIGATION OF THE DISTRICT.

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

18 of the District shall be determined by the Secretary of the

19 Interior consistent with the Water Supply Act of 1958;

20 provided, however, that for the purposes of calculating in21 terest and determining the time when the District’s repay22 ment obligation to the United States commences, the

23 pumping and treatment of groundwater from the Project

24 shall be deemed equivalent to the first use of water from

25 a water storage project.
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1 (b) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATION BY

2 AGREEMENT.—The rights and obligations of the United

3 States and the District regarding the repayment obliga4 tion of the District may be modified by an agreement be5 tween the parties.

6 SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTE7 NANCE.

8 The Secretary may transfer to the District, or a mu9 tually agreed upon third party, the care, operation, and

10 maintenance of the Project under conditions satisfactory

11 to that Secretary and the District, and with respect to

12 the portion of the Project that is located within the bound13 aries of Camp Pendleton, satisfactory also to the Secretary

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

15 shall be entitled to an equitable credit for the costs associ16 ated with the Secretary’s proportionate share of the oper17 ation and maintenance of the Project. The amount of such

18 costs shall be applied against the indebtedness of the Dis19 trict to the United States.

20 SEC. 7. SCOPE OF ACT.

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

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

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

24 That nothing in this Act shall be construed—
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1 (1) as a grant or a relinquishment by the

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

3 it acquired according to the laws of the State of

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

5 lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and

6 adjoining naval installations, and the rights to the

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

8 actual use or prescription or both since the date of

9 that acquisition, if any;

10 (2) to create any legal obligation to store any

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

12 States has such rights;

13 (3) to constitute a recognition of, or an admis14 sion that, the District has any rights to the use of

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

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

17 California; or

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

19 water to which the United States has such rights.

20 SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON OPERATION AND ADMINISTRA21 TION.

22 Unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the

23 Navy, the Project—

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

25 the free passage of all of the water to the use of
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1 which the United States is entitled according to the

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

3 its acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph

4 H. Pendleton and adjoining naval installations, and

5 the rights to the use of water as a part of those ac6 quisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or

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

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

9 way which will impair or deplete the quantities of

10 water the use of which the United States would be

11 entitled under the laws of the State of California

12 had the Project not been built.

13 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

14 There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any

15 money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise

16 appropriated, the following:

17 (1) $60,000,000 (the current estimated con18 struction cost of the Project, plus or minus such

19 amounts as may be indicated by the engineering cost

20 indices for this type of construction); and

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

22 and maintain the said project.

23 SEC. 10. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

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

25 of this Act and periodically thereafter, the Secretary of
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1 the Interior and the Secretary of the Navy shall each re2 port to the Congress regarding if the conditions specified

3 in section 2(b) have been met and if so, the details of how

4 they were met.

Passed the House of Representatives October 4,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.