From Charles V. Stern, Pervaze A. Sheikh and Erin H. Ward comes this updated (8 March 2022) version of the CRS report: 'Central Valley Project - Issues and Legislation'.
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This report gets updated on a regular basis. Click on the graphics to enlarge them.
Summary
The Central Valley Project (CVP), a federal water project owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), is one of the world’s largest water supply projects. The CVP covers approximately 400 miles in California, from Redding to Bakersfield, and draws from two large river basins: the Sacramento and the San Joaquin. It is composed of 20 dams and reservoirs and numerous pieces of water storage and conveyance infrastructure. In an average year, the CVP delivers more than 7 million acre-feet of water to support irrigated agriculture, municipalities, and fish and wildlife needs, among other purposes. About 75% of CVP water is used for agricultural irrigation, including 7 of California’s top 10 agricultural counties. The CVP is operated jointly with the State Water Project (SWP), which provides much of its water to municipal users in Southern California.CVP water is delivered to users that have contracts with Reclamation, which is part of the Department of the Interior. These contractors receive varying levels of priority for water deliveries based on several factors, including hydrology, water rights, prior agreements with Reclamation, and regulatory requirements. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers’ confluence with the San Francisco Bay (Bay-Delta or Delta) is a hub for CVP water deliveries; many CVP contractors south of the Delta receive water that is “exported” from north of the Delta.
Development of the CVP resulted in significant changes to the area’s natural hydrology. However, construction of most CVP facilities predated major federal natural resources and environmental protection laws. Much of the current debate related to the CVP revolves around how to deal with changes to the hydrologic system that were not significantly mitigated when the project was constructed. Dry conditions—including a prolonged drought from 2012 to 2016 and the current drought, which dates to 2020—have led to curtailment of contracted water supplies. Reclamation has been unable to provide any water supplies to most CVP agricultural water service contractors in 4 of the past 11 years (including 2021 and 2022) and has cut supplies for some senior water rights holders during this time.
Various state and federal proposals are currently under consideration and have generated controversy for their potential to affect CVP operations and allocations. In late 2018, the State of California finalized revisions to its Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan that would require more flows from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers to reach the Bay-Delta for water quality and fish and wildlife enhancement (i.e., reduced water supplies for other users). “Voluntary agreements” that might replace some or all of these requirements are currently being negotiated but have yet to be finalized. Concurrently, the Trump Administration attempted to increase CVP water supplies for users and made changes to long-term operations of the CVP in a 2019 biological opinion created under the Endangered Species Act (ESA, 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544). California and some environmental organizations opposed these efforts and filed lawsuits to prevent implementation of the changes. The court issued a preliminary injunction on May 11, 2020, temporarily prohibiting Reclamation from implementing the operational changes through May 31, 2020 (an extension was denied by the court). On September 30, 2021, Reclamation requested reinitiation of consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to assess the effects of proposed changes to CVP operations and to voluntarily reconcile CVP operations with SWP operational requirements under the California ESA permit. Reclamation and California submitted to the court a proposed revised interim operations plan for the October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, water year while reinitiated consultation is ongoing. Other parties to the litigation have raised objections to the plan. Reclamation and California submitted motions requesting adoption of the interim operations plan and a stay of the litigation through September 30, 2022.
Congress has engaged in CVP issues through oversight and legislation, most recently in the form of provisions enacted under the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act (WIIN Act; P.L. 114-322). Among other things, this act authorized changes to CVP operations that are intended to provide increased water supplies for agricultural and municipal contractors under certain circumstances. In the same legislation, Congress also authorized funding for new water storage projects that are expected to benefit CVP operations. In the 117th Congress, legislators may consider bills and conduct oversight on efforts to increase CVP water exports compared with current baselines. Some in Congress have also weighed in on disagreements between state and federal project operators and the status of coordinated operations of the CVP and SWP. Congress is also considering whether to approve funding for new water storage projects and may consider legislation to extend or amend CVP authorities.
Introduction
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), part of the Department of the Interior (DOI), operates the multipurpose federal Central Valley Project (CVP) in California, one of the world’s largest water storage and conveyance systems. The CVP runs approximately 400 miles in California, from Redding to Bakersfield (Figure 1). It supplies water to hundreds of thousands of acres of irrigated agriculture throughout the state, including some of the most valuable cropland in the country. It also provides water to selected state and federal wildlife refuges, as well as to some municipal and industrial (M&I) water users. The CVP’s operations are coordinated with the state’s other largest water supply project, the state-operated State Water Project (SWP).
This report provides information on hydrologic conditions in California and their impact on state and federal water management, with a focus on deliveries related to the federal CVP. It also summarizes selected issues for Congress related to the CVP.
Recent Developments
The drought of 2012-2016, widely considered to be among California’s most severe droughts in recent history, resulted in major reductions to CVP contractor allocations and economic and environmental impacts throughout the state. These impacts were of interest to Congress, which oversees federal operation of the CVP. Although the drought ended with the wet winter of 2017, dry conditions in 2020 and 2021 (the driest water year on record since 1977) have resulted in renewed water supply curtailments. Absent major changes to existing hydrologic, legislative, and regulatory baselines, most agree that at least some water users are likely to face constrained water supplies in water year 2022. Due to the limited available water supplies, proposed changes to the current operations and allocation system are controversial.Because of the relative scarcity of water in the West and the importance of federal water infrastructure to the region, western water issues are regularly of interest to many lawmakers. Legislation enacted in the 114th Congress (Title II of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation [WIIN] Act; P.L. 114-322) included several CVP-related sections. These provisions directed pumping to “maximize” water supplies for the CVP (including pumping or “exports” to CVP water users south of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers’ confluence with the San Francisco Bay, known as the Bay-Delta or Delta) in accordance with applicable biological opinions (BiOps) for project operations. They also allowed for increased pumping during certain storm events generating high flows, authorized actions to facilitate water transfers, and established a new standard for measuring the effects of water operations on species. In addition tooperational provisions, the WIIN Act authorized funding for construction of new federal and nonfederal water storage projects. CVP projects are among the most likely recipients of this funding.
Due to increased precipitation and disagreements with the state, among other factors, the WIIN Act’s operational authorities generally did not yield significant new water exports south of the Delta in 2017-2020. However, Reclamation received funding for WIIN Act-authorized water storage project design and construction in FY2017-FY2021, and the majority of this funding has gone to CVP-related projects.
Separate state and federal plans under the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act, respectively, would alter water allocation and operational criteria in markedly different ways and have generated controversy. In mid-2018, the State of California proposed revisions to its Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan (developed pursuant to the Clean Water Act [CWA; 33 U.S.C. §§1251-138]). These changes would require that more flows from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers reach the California Bay-Delta for water quality and fish and wildlife enhancement (and would thus further reduce water supplies for CVP and SWP users). Separately, in February 2020, the Trump Administration finalized an operational plan to increase water supplies for users and issued a new biological opinion under the Endangered Species Act (ESA; 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544) that reflects these changes. Both plans are the subject of ongoing litigation. On September 30, 2021, Reclamation requested reinitiation of consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under Section 7 of the ESA to address proposed changes to CVP operations and to voluntarily reconcile CVP operations to SWP operational requirements imposed by the permit issued pursuant to the California ESA. Reclamation and California proposed an interim operations plan for CVP and SWP operations during the October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022, water year while reinitiated consultation is ongoing. Other parties to the litigation have objected to the interim operations plan. On November 23, 2021, the federal defendants requested that the court approve a voluntary remand of the 2019 BiOps and 2020 record of decision (ROD) without vacating them and require implementation of the interim operations plan as injunctive relief through September 30, 2022.
Let's cut to the chase, shall we?
New Storage and Conveyance
Reductions in available water deliveries due to hydrological and regulatory factors have caused some stakeholders, legislators, and state and federal government officials to look at other methods of augmenting water supplies. In particular, proposals to build new or augmented CVP and/or SWP water storage projects have been of interest to some policymakers. Additionally, the State of California is pursuing a major water conveyance project, the California WaterFix, with a nexus to CVP operations.
New and Augmented Water Storage Projects
The aforementioned CALFED legislation (P.L. 108-361) authorized the study of several new or augmented storage projects throughout the Central Valley that have been ongoing for a number of years. Additionally, a number of other projects in and around the Central Valley have beenproposed in recent years. While it is unclear whether any of these projects will be completed and/or incorporated into the CVP itself, their status has ramifications for the water supply questions related to the CVP. In the past, construction recommendations for new Reclamation projects have been subject to congressional approval; however, Section 4007 of the WIIN Act authorized Reclamation financial support for new or expanded federal and nonfederal water storage projects and provided that these projects could be deemed authorized, subject to a finding by the Administration that individual projects met certain criteria. As of the date of this report’s publication, most recommendations under this authority had been approved in appropriations acts, with the only exception being proposed funding for the Shasta Dam and Reservoir Enlargement Project, which has appeared in the most recent three project recommendation lists. Table 4 shows recent funding levels for these projects.
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