E&E News: Padilla bills aim to renew California water supplies
By Jennifer Yachnin
California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla introduced a pair of bills aimed at increasing water supplies for his home state and the drought-stricken West — via recycling as well as new projects to better use water on farmland.
Padilla, a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on Wednesday introduced the “Making Our Communities Resilient Through Enhancing Water for Agriculture, Technology, the Environment and Residences (MORE WATER) Act.”
He also offered the “Growing Resilient Operations From Water Saving and Municipal-Agricultural Reciprocally Beneficial Transactions (GROW SMART) Act.”
The bills are a bid to reduce a drinking water deficit that the California Department of Water Resources said will reach 6 million acre-feet annually by 2040. An acre-foot of water is about 326,000 gallons, or enough to support two to three families for a year.
“After years of severe drought and mounting climate impacts, California needs bold solutions and sustained federal investment to confront water scarcity challenges in both cities and agricultural communities across the state,” Padilla said in a statement.
The “MORE WATER Act” would reauthorize federal water recycling programs, including those funded via a bipartisan infrastructure law program that would otherwise expire after fiscal 2026.
It would renew a water recycling program created under the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation law enacted in 2016, which has since lapsed.
The bill would also renew a WIIN program aimed at in-stream and floodplain habitat restoration, as well as authorize a new program for water conveyance projects.
The “GROW SMART Act” would authorize $35 million over seven years for the Bureau of Reclamation to fund new demonstration projects for water-saving methods on agricultural lands.
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