Sustainable Water Supplies Act

Bill: 115-hr-6782
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. DeSaulnier, Mark [D-CA-11]
Introduced: 2018-09-12
Policy area: Water Resources Development
Subjects: Aquatic ecology

California

Public contracts and procurement

Water resources funding

Water storage

Water use and supply

Wetlands

Wilderness and natural areas, wildlife refuges, wild rivers, habitats
Latest action: action_date: 2018-09-20
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Water, Power and Oceans.

Summaries:
action_date: 2018-09-12
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Sustainable Water Supplies Act</strong></p> <p>This bill directs the Department of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements with nonfederal entities to provide water supplies for:</p> <ul> <li>contractors for the Central Valley Project, California;</li> <li>units of the National Wildlife Refuge System; </li> <li>state wildlife areas; </li> <li>and private wetland areas.</li> </ul> <p>Interior shall report on the long-term feasibility of these agreements to augment the federal water supply.</p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6782 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES September 12, 2018 Mr. DeSaulnier (for himself and Mr. McNerney ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To determine the feasibility of additional agreements for long-term use of existing or expanded non-Federal storage and conveyance facilities to augment Federal water supply, ecosystem, and operational flexibility benefits in certain areas, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Sustainable Water Supplies Act . 2. Pilot program (a) In general In order to determine the feasibility of agreements for long-term use of existing or expanded non-Federal storage and associated conveyance facilities to augment Federal water supply, ecosystem, and operational flexibility benefits, not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall enter into cooperative agreements with non-Federal entities to provide water supplies for Central Valley Project contractors, units of the National Wildlife Refuge System, State wildlife areas, and private wetland areas. Agreements under this section shall— (1) include the purchase of storage capacity in non-Federal facilities from willing sellers; and (2) provide reimbursement for the temporary use of available capacity in existing above-ground, off-stream storage, and associated conveyance facilities owned by local water agencies. (b) Treatment of water delivery water as reimbursable expense The cost of delivering water to any Central Valley Project contractor that is not a wildlife refuge shall be considered a reimbursable expense. 3. Report Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall complete a report on the feasibility of the agreements described in section 2 for long-term use of existing or expanded non-Federal storage and conveyance facilities to augment Federal water supply, ecosystem, and operational flexibility benefits. The report shall be made available to the Chief of the National Wildlife Refuge System and Central Valley Project contractors.