I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 289
To update requirements for the operation of the Central Valley Project
and Klamath River Basin Reclamation Project by the Bureau of Reclamation.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY11, 2023
Mr. L
AMALFAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To update requirements for the operation of the Central
Valley Project and Klamath River Basin Reclamation
Project by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect Our Water 4
Rights Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ALLOCATIONS FOR SACRAMENTO VALLEY CON-6
TRACTORS. 7
(a) A
LLOCATIONS; CONDITIONS.— 8
(1) A
LLOCATIONS.— 9
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the 1
Interior, acting through the Bureau of Rec-2
lamation (in this Act, referred to as the ‘‘Sec-3
retary’’) is directed, in the operation of the 4
Central Valley Project, to allocate water pro-5
vided for irrigation purposes to existing Central 6
Valley Project agricultural water service con-7
tractors within the Sacramento River Water-8
shed in compliance with the following: 9
(i) Not less than 100 percent of their 10
contract quantities in a ‘‘Wet’’ year. 11
(ii) Not less than 100 percent of their 12
contract quantities in an ‘‘Above Normal’’ 13
year. 14
(iii) Not less than 75 percent of their 15
contract quantities in a ‘‘Below Normal’’ 16
year. 17
(iv) Not less than 50 percent of their 18
contract quantities in a ‘‘Dry’’ year. 19
(v) Not less than 50 percent of their 20
contract quantities in a ‘‘Critically Dry’’ 21
year. 22
(vi) In all years not identified in sub-23
paragraphs (A) through (E), the allocation 24
percentage for existing Central Valley 25
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•HR 289 IH
Project agricultural water service contrac-1
tors within the Sacramento River Water-2
shed shall not be less than (but may be 3
more than) twice the allocation percentage 4
to south-of-Delta Central Valley Project 5
agricultural water service contractors, up 6
to 100 percent. 7
(B) T
HE YEAR TYPE TERMS .—The year 8
type terms used in subparagraph (A) have the 9
meaning given those year types in the Sac-10
ramento Valley Water Year Type (40–30–30) 11
Index. 12
(2) C
ONDITIONS.—The Secretary’s actions 13
under paragraph (1) shall be subject to— 14
(A) the priority of individuals or entities 15
with Sacramento River water rights, including 16
those with Sacramento River Settlement Con-17
tracts, that have priority to the diversion and 18
use of Sacramento River water over water 19
rights held by the United States for operations 20
of the Central Valley Project; 21
(B) the United States obligation to make 22
a substitute supply of water available to the 23
San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors; and 24
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(C) the Secretary’s obligation to make 1
water available to managed wetlands pursuant 2
to section 3406(d) of the Central Valley Project 3
Improvement Act, (Public Law 102–575). 4
(b) P
ROTECTION OF MUNICIPAL ANDINDUSTRIAL 5
S
UPPLIES.—Nothing in subsection (a) shall be deemed 6
to— 7
(1) modify any provision of a water service con-8
tract that addresses municipal and industrial water 9
shortage policies of the Secretary; 10
(2) affect or limit the authority of the Secretary 11
to adopt or modify municipal and industrial water 12
shortage policies; 13
(3) affect or limit the authority of the Secretary 14
to implement municipal and industrial water short-15
age policies; or 16
(4) affect allocations to Central Valley Project 17
municipal and industrial contractors pursuant to 18
such policies. 19
(c) P
ROTECTION OF OPERATIONS AND DELIV-20
ERIES.—Nothing in subsection (a) or the Secretary’s im-21
plementation of subsection (a) shall constrain, govern, or 22
affect, directly or indirectly, the operations of the Central 23
Valley Project’s American River Division or any deliveries 24
from that Division, its units or facilities. 25
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(d) NOEFFECT ONALLOCATIONS.—Nothing in sub-1
section (a) shall— 2
(1) affect the allocation of water to Friant Divi-3
sion contractors; or 4
(2) result in the involuntary reduction in con-5
tract water allocations to individuals or entities with 6
contracts to receive water from the Friant Division. 7
(e) T
ERMDEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘ex-8
isting Central Valley Project agricultural water service 9
contractors within the Sacramento River Watershed’’ 10
means water service contractors within the Shasta, Trin-11
ity, and Sacramento River Divisions of the Central Valley 12
Project, that have a water service contract in effect, on 13
the date of the enactment of this section, that provides 14
water for irrigation. 15
SEC. 3. ANNUAL ALLOCATION FIELD BRIEFINGS. 16
The Secretary shall hold not less than 1 in-person 17
field hearing each county where a Central Valley Project 18
water service contractor is located during the period that 19
is after the initial water allocations for the Central Valley 20
Project and before the final water allocation announce-21
ment for the Central Valley Project. 22
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SEC. 4. ADJUSTMENT OF COST REQUIREMENTS. 1
The operation and maintenance costs required to be 2
paid by Central Valley Project water contractors and the 3
Bureau of Reclamation shall be reversed, such that— 4
(1) the allocation percentage obligation held by 5
the Bureau of Reclamation on the day before the 6
date of the enactment of this Act shall be held by 7
Central Valley Project water contractors; and 8
(2) the allocation percentage obligation held by 9
the Central Valley Project water contractors on the 10
day before the date of the enactment of this Act 11
shall be held by the Bureau of Reclamation. 12
SEC. 5. REPORT. 13
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 14
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re-15
port that includes an account of amounts that irrigation 16
districts and water user associations contracted with the 17
Bureau of Reclamation for agricultural water deliveries 18
owe to the Bureau of Reclamation related to debt incurred 19
for construction of facilities and other aspects of the 20
Klamath River Basin Reclamation Project. 21
SEC. 6. WATER OPERATIONS IN UPPER KLAMATH LAKE. 22
When operating the Klamath River Basin Reclama-23
tion Project, the Secretary, in accordance with State-adju-24
dicated water rights, shall— 25
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(1) operate all water in Upper Klamath Lake 1
above elevation 4136.0 feet solely for agricultural 2
and refuge purposes; and 3
(2) to the extent practicable when operating all 4
water in Upper Klamath Lake in accordance with 5
paragraph (1), maximize storage in the Upper 6
Klamath Lake. 7
Æ
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