12 



STATEMENT OF DR. JOHN GROSSMAN, RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 

 ADMINISTRATOR, EASTERN MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT, 

 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



Dr. Grossman. Thank you. 



Mr. Chairman, my name is John S. Grossman, and I am a Re- 

 source Development Administrator for Eastern Municipal Water 

 District in Southern California. With me today is Mr. Rodger 

 Siems, a member of our Board of Directors and a local farmer. 



It is a pleasure for me to testify before the Environment and 

 Natural Resources Subcommittee on EMWD's interest in and expe- 

 rience with plant species protected under the Endangered Species 

 Act. However, before discussing our experiences, I would like to 

 take a few moments to describe the Eastern Municipal Water Dis- 

 trict and the area we serve. Eastern is a public water district 

 formed in 1950 under the Municipal Water District Act of Califor- 

 nia. Our service area is located in western Riverside County in 

 Southern California. It is approximately 539 square miles and we 

 serve approximately 400,000 people. The area is bounded on the 

 east by the San Bernardino National Forest and the San Jacinto 

 Mountains, on the north by San Bernardino County, on the south 

 by San Diego County, and on the west by the Cleveland National 

 Forest. We are a water district that is in transition. Historically 

 our primary customer has been agriculture, but today the District 

 is becoming a more suburban, residential area. 



To meet the growing expectations of our changing customer base, 

 EMWD has embarked on a $500 million capital improvement pro- 

 gram over the next five years. Because of the uncertainty of im- 

 ported water to our area, both in terms of cost and the availability, 

 our Board of Directors has made the development, management 

 and protection of local water supplies our district's highest priority. 

 Stated another way, the Eastern Municipal Water District has 

 made water conservation, water reclamation and reuse, and 

 groundwater development and management its highest priority. 

 These efforts have resulted in water projects that are at the cutting 

 edge of responsible water resources management. 



One of the challenges that we face in developing these projects is 

 endangered species. By late 1992, the Federal Endangered Species 

 Act protected over 1,000 plant and animal species in the United 

 States, with 113 of those species found in California. These protec- 

 tions have resulted in approximately 144,000 acres, or 44 percent of 

 our service area being designated as sensitive habitat for endan- 

 gered species. With the recent addition of the California Orcutt 

 Grass and the proposed listing of the San Jacinto Saltbush, this 

 total is expected to increase even more. And, the list does not in- 

 clude any of the 159 plant species that are the subject of a public 

 hearing in Willows, California, on November 10, 1993. 



One of the District projects that was impacted by an endangered 

 plant species was a seven-mile sewer line. The proposed alignment 

 passed through a heavily disturbed area that had been zoned for 

 industrial use in the City of Hemet's general plan. Eastern had 

 prepared an environmental assessment for this project, and when 

 no comments were received from the resource agencies or the gen- 

 eral public. Eastern proceeded with construction in October of 



