This CRS report (updated 5 March 2024) by Charles V. Stern, Pervaze A. Sheikh and Erin H. Ward is excellent and one of the most important water issues in California and the Western US. Click here for the PDF: Central Valley Project: Issues and Legislation.
Download CRS_Report-_Central_Valley_Project_Issues_Legislation_5March2024
I will not go through the entire report here. I will reproduce the Summary and insert a few graphics. Be sure to read the Introduction, Background and Recent Developments. 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 have led to significant curtailments of contracted water supplies in recent years. 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. Wet conditions in the winter of 2022-2023 alleviated some of these trends.
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 being negotiated but have not been finalized. The Trump Administration attempted to increase CVP water supplies for users and proposed changes to long-term operations of the CVP in 2019. Those changes were finalized in a record of decision in 2020 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) issued a no-jeopardy biological opinion after consultation required by 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. Under the Biden Administration, Reclamation is implementing an interim operations plan for the CVP while the litigation is pending and has requested reinitiation of consultation with FWS and NMFS to assess the effects of proposed changes to CVP operations.
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 were intended to provide increased water supplies for agricultural and municipal contractors under certain circumstances (most of these provisions have since expired). In the same legislation, Congress authorized funding for new water storage projects that are expected to benefit CVP operations. Some of these operational and construction-related provisions expired but have been proposed for reauthorization. Legislators may conduct oversight on the CVP and may consider legislation that aims to alter CVP water exports compared with current levels, as well as whether to approve funding for new water storage projects.
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