34 



Mr. DooLiTTLE. Thank you. And Mr. Smith is recognized. 



STATEMENT OF ROBERT SMITH, ASSISTANT GENERAL 

 MANAGER, SANTA CLARA VALLEY WATER DISTRICT 



Mr. Smith. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, 

 thank you also for this opportunity along with Mr. Quinn to 

 present the Bay-Delta Coalition's view on recently introduced 

 Central Valley Reform Act legislation. I am Bob Smith. I am the 

 Assistant General Manager of the Santa Clara Valley Water Dis- 

 trict located in San Jose, California. 



The Urban Coalition is a diverse group of both northern and 

 southern water agencies who serve very dynamic urban economies. 

 Commerce and industry in our combined service areas generate 

 over 11 million jobs and over three-fourths of the state's $800 bil- 

 lion gross annual product, representing roughly 10 percent of the 

 national and total economy. 



We know that in order for the urban economy to grow and pros- 

 per we must bring stability to the environment, particularly to the 

 Bay-Delta watershed which generates most of the urban water sup- 

 plies in California. In his testimony, Mr. Quinn highlighted two 

 key concerns of the Bay-Delta Coalition that dealt with establish- 

 ing a more effective CVPIA implementation process and with the 

 management of the 800,000 acre feet of dedicated environmental 

 water. 



I would like to highlight a couple of more concerns that the coali- 

 tion would like to bring to your attention this morning. First, we 

 believe that it is critical to address the issue of water supply reli- 

 ability for the urban areas served by the CVP. One of the stated 

 purposes of the CVPIA is to achieve a reasonable balance among 

 competing demands for use of Central Valley Project water. 



WTiile the CVPIA defines a minimum 75 percent reliability for 

 environmental water allocated to fish and wildlife purposes, it pro- 

 vides very little guidance on how remaining CVP supplies should 

 be allocated. Urban populations served by the CVP have suffered 

 increased water supply uncertainty, and efforts by Santa Clara and 

 other CVP M&I contractors to resolve this uncertainty through ad- 

 ministrative remedies have not been successful. As a CVP M&I 

 contractor and a member of the Urban Coalition, we believe that 

 a minimum level of contract deliveries for M&I purposes should be 

 included in the legislation. 



Apart from the fundamental importance of CVP water supplies 

 to urban populations and economies, there should be recognition 

 that CVP urlflin contractors are already paying for M&I water sup- 

 ply reliability. Current cost allocation and rate-setting methods 

 used by the Bureau of Reclamation assume that water delivered for 

 M&I purposes will have greater reliability relative to the irrigation 

 purpose, and as a result, M&I water rates are proportionately high- 

 er. This financial assumption shifts millions of dollars of cost to 

 M&I water users, and it is time to back up that assumption with 

 legislative language. 



The Urban Coalition believes that in order for the urban water 

 supply to operate effectively and plan for their needs, the reliability 

 of the CVP M&I water supply should be defined in H.R. 1906, and 



