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Costa introduces Bill to restore San Joaquin Valley Canals

April 3, 2023

WASHINGTON – Congressman Jim Costa (CA-21) introduced the Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act, which would authorize more than $653 million to restore the capacity of three San Joaquin Valley canals, while also investing in restoration of the San Joaquin River.

Central Valley canals are critical tools in California’s water management, allowing for the movement of water to supply cities, farms, and groundwater recharge. Restoring these canals would improve California’s drought resilience and help farmers comply with limits on groundwater pumping under the California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

“We must increase storage in wet years like this one to ensure we can withstand the next long dry spell,” said Costa. “My bill would provide federal funding to restore the Friant-Kern Canal, Delta-Mendota Canal, and California Aqueduct to their full carrying capacity. Restoring this infrastructure is critical to delivering water to our farms and communities across the San Joaquin Valley.” 

"I am pleased to work with my California colleagues to bring new federal investment to repair our state's aqueducts and canals, which have fallen into disrepair after years of neglect and land subsidence from groundwater over pumping," said Garamendi. “All told, our bill would provide the largest federal investment in California's statewide water infrastructure in decades. Beyond just repairing existing infrastructure, we must make forward-looking investments to modernize California's water supply to meet our state's future water needs and become more resilient to climate change. I plan to continue working with my colleagues in California's Congressional delegation to do just that. 

"The San Joaquin Valley is one of our country's most important agricultural areas. Our fields feed the world. That means we need increased water canal capacity to make our waterways resilient, protect our environment, and ensure our farmers have enough water to grow their crops," said Harder.

“Wet years like this remind us once again how important adequate water storage and conveyance infrastructure is for California’s drought resilience. The Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act makes critical funding available to restore the capacity of the Friant-Kern Canal and other key conveyance facilities and will improve water storage and delivery to support farms and communities throughout the State and the food security for the Nation,” said Jason Phillips, Friant Water Authority.

“California’s climate whiplash shows how critical it is to make investments in infrastructure to ensure that when we have these sporadic periods of snow and rain, we are well-positioned to move and store it for the inevitable future dry periods. Canal repair is an absolutely necessary component to ensuring we can fully take advantage of these wet conditions and Representative Costa’s Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act will provide the necessary funding to get it done.” said Jennifer Pierre, State Water Contractors (SWC). 

“Restoring the full capacity of California’s backbone water conveyance infrastructure, like the Delta-Mendota and San Luis Canals, is critically important to ensuring water resilience for the communities and ecosystems served by the Authority’s member agencies,” said Federico Barajas, Executive Director of the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. “The Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act provides necessary federal funding to restore these facilities to their full design capacity and continues to advance the local-state-federal partnership that will be necessary to restore and expand California’s water infrastructure – a system which provides national food security, improves our regional and statewide economy, and protects ecosystems and habitats important to listed species and migratory waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway”. 

The Canal Conveyance Capacity Restoration Act would authorize a one-third federal cost share for restoring canal capacity. Specifically, it would authorize $833.4 million for four major projects: 

  • $180 million to restore the Friant-Kern Canal.
  • $183.9 million to restore the Delta Mendota Canal.
  • $289.5 million to restore the California Aqueduct.
  • $180 million to restore salmon runs on the San Joaquin River.

The funding may not be used to build new surface storage or raise existing reservoirs. It may also not be used to enlarge the capacity of any canal, except for a temporary increase to mitigate anticipated future subsidence. This legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Representatives John Garamendi (CA-08) and Josh Harder (CA-09).