70 



the flexibility to be creative and productive in helping to address 

 California's current and future water management problems. 



Successful passage of this legislation will clearly add to the envi- 

 ronmental value of the CVPIA by making an unworkable law work- 

 able while solidifying the baseline from which future changes to 

 water management in California can be expanded upon. Thank you 

 very much for the opportunity to appear here today. 



[Statement of Mr. Moss may be found at end of hearing.] 



[CVPIA news articles were placed in the hearing record files of 

 the subcommittee.] 



Mr. DOOLITTLE. Thank you. Mr. Moss, I was quoting from some 

 of your testimony in addressing my questions to Mr. Beard, but 

 will you share with us your experience with the Bureau of Rec- 

 lamation in terms of these water conservation plans and conditions 

 and so forth that are being imposed upon you of tiered pricing, 

 even though that is not 



Mr. Moss. Well, it is and it isn't. I was interested in the com- 

 ments that were made earlier relative to the application of tiered 

 pricing under the CVPIA provisions as part of the interim renewal 

 contracts. 



We were given somewhat of a Hobbes choice in the interim re- 

 newal process of either agreeing to include within our water con- 

 servation plans provisions for having district to grower conserva- 

 tion requirements in our conservation plans, or reverting back to 

 the 801010 kind of tiered pricing approach that was mandated for 

 the long-term renewals. 



It was an either/or situation with relatively little flexibility in 

 terms of how the districts or whether it was appropriate for the 

 districts to have tiered pricing in their contracts at all. 



The development of the water conservation criteria was a very 

 frustrating process. We thought we were going to have significant 

 input into the development of that criteria since basically it was 

 the districts who were going to have to implement all of it. We 

 didn't. It ended up they listened but they didn't hear, and we ended 

 up coming out with criteria that we found to be very objectionable. 



And I think you are seeing the same criteria now applied 

 westwide and are hearing howls from other states as to its appro- 

 priateness. Again, the one-size-fits-all notion of water conservation 

 criteria just doesn't work. 



Mr. DOOLITTLE. And what has your experience been with having 

 to demonstrate that certain practices are not efficacious for con- 

 servation? 



Mr. Moss. The districts are going through that process right now 

 in the approval of their plans, and it has been something that has, 

 quite frankly, hung up the approval of those plans considerably. 

 Again, the idea that you have to prove the negative has been very 

 difficult and, quite frankly, has set what I believe to be the wrong 

 tone for cooperatively working on reproving water conservation. 



Again, you have to consider that most of this area is already 

 water short; doing an excellent job of managing their water; has 

 had water conservation as a high priority for many, many years. 

 Drip irrigation originated out of the Friant Division of the CVP. 

 You will still find many of the original developers of that tech- 

 nology home right there in towns like Lindsay and Delano and Ba- 



