I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5247 
To provide short-term water supplies to drought-stricken California and pro-
vide for long-term investments in drought resiliency throughout the West-
ern United States. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 16, 2016 
Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Mr. COSTA, Mr. CA´RDENAS, and Mr. PETERS) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation 
and Infrastructure, Science, Space, and Technology, and Energy and 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide short-term water supplies to drought-stricken 
California and provide for long-term investments in 
drought resiliency throughout the Western United States. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and 
Short-Term Provisions for Emergency Drought Relief 
Act’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Purposes. 
Sec. 3. Findings. 
Sec. 4. Definitions. 
TITLE I—LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENTS FOR WESTERN STATES 
SUBJECT TO DROUGHT 
Subtitle A—Assistance for Drought-Stricken Communities 
Sec. 101. Assistance for drought-stricken communities and WaterSMART reau-
thorization. 
Sec. 102. Utilizing State revolving funds for areas with inadequate water sup-
plies. 
Subtitle B—Storage Provisions 
Sec. 111. Definitions. 
Sec. 112. Water storage project construction. 
Sec. 113. Reservoir operation improvement. 
Sec. 114. Findings. 
Sec. 115. Studies. 
Sec. 116. Losses caused by construction and operation of water storage 
projects. 
Subtitle C—Desalination, Water Reuse and Recycling, and Conservation 
Sec. 121. Water recycling and desalination projects. 
Sec. 122. Reauthorization of Water Desalination Act. 
Sec. 123. New water recycling and reuse projects. 
Sec. 124. Promoting water efficiency with WaterSense. 
Subtitle D—Reclamation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation 
Sec. 131. Purposes. 
Sec. 132. Definitions. 
Sec. 133. Authority to provide assistance. 
Sec. 134. Applications. 
Sec. 135. Eligibility for assistance. 
Sec. 136. Determination of eligibility and project selection. 
Sec. 137. Secured loans. 
Sec. 138. Program administration. 
Sec. 139. State and local permits. 
Sec. 140. Regulations. 
Sec. 141. Funding. 
TITLE II—LISTED SPECIES AND WILDLIFE 
Sec. 201. Actions to benefit endangered fish populations. 
Sec. 202. Actions to benefit refuges. 
Sec. 203. Non-Federal program to protect native anadromous fish in Stanislaus 
River. 
Sec. 204. Pilot projects to implement CALFED invasive species program. 
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TITLE III—CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY DROUGHT RELIEF AND 
OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY 
Sec. 301. Taking into account increased real-time monitoring and updated 
science. 
Sec. 302. Emergency operations. 
Sec. 303. Temporary operational flexibility to capture peak flows from winter 
storms. 
Sec. 304. Emergency environmental reviews. 
Sec. 305. Level of detail required for analysis. 
TITLE IV—WATER RIGHTS 
Sec. 401. Offset for State Water Project. 
Sec. 402. Area of origin and water rights protections. 
Sec. 403. No redirected adverse impacts. 
Sec. 404. Allocations for Sacramento Valley water service contractors. 
TITLE V—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 
Sec. 501. Authorized service area. 
Sec. 502. Oversight over and public input into Restoration Fund activities. 
Sec. 503. Basin studies. 
Sec. 504. Technical and modeling assistance. 
Sec. 505. Report on results of water usage. 
Sec. 506. Additional storage at New Melones. 
Sec. 507. Contracting authorities. 
Sec. 508. Voluntary open water data system. 
Sec. 509. Single annual report. 
TITLE VI—OFFSETS 
Sec. 601. Deauthorization of inactive projects. 
Sec. 602. Accelerated revenue, repayment, and surface water storage enhance-
ment. 
TITLE VII—DURATION AND EFFECT ON EXISTING OBLIGATIONS 
Sec. 701. Savings clause. 
Sec. 702. Termination. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to help communities most at risk of running 
out of clean water; 
(2) to provide funding and support for long- 
term solutions including water storage, desalination 
and recycling; 
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(3) to protect threatened and endangered spe-
cies; and 
(4) to facilitate the movement of water to com-
munities most in need while adhering to all environ-
mental laws. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) California is experiencing one of the most 
severe droughts on record, with the snowpack at the 
lowest levels in 500 years; 
(2) Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought 
state of emergency on January 17, 2014, and subse-
quently imposed strict water reductions on commu-
nities throughout the State; 
(3) the drought constitutes a serious emergency 
that poses immediate and severe risks to— 
(A) human health and safety; 
(B) economic security; and 
(C) the environment; 
(4) wells that provide households with clean 
water have dried up due to 4 consecutive years of 
drought, with approximately 2,591 domestic wells 
statewide identified as critical or dry, affecting an 
estimated 12,955 residents, many in the Central 
Valley; 
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(5) rural and disadvantaged communities have 
been hardest hit, placing great strain on drinking 
water supplies in the Southern San Joaquin Val-
ley— 
(A) 69 communities in Southern San Joa-
quin Valley have reported significant water sup-
ply and quality issues; and 
(B) East Porterville is particularly hard 
hit, with 40 percent, or 3,000, of its residents, 
without running water; 
(6) the State of California’s water supplies are 
at record-low levels, as indicated by the fact that 
major Central Valley Project reservoir levels were 
anywhere from 30 percent to 79 percent of their his-
torical average as of February 8, 2016; 
(7) while storage levels are below their histor-
ical averages, snowpack is the deepest it’s been since 
2005, the State of California’s Department of Water 
Resources found in its survey conducted on Feb-
ruary 2, 2016, that the snow-water equivalent (the 
amount of water in the snowpack) was 130 percent 
above the February average; 
(8) the drought has resulted in many lost jobs 
including more than 21,000 seasonal and part-time 
agricultural jobs—resulting in a 10.9 percent unem-
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