Joel Nelsen

SACRAMENTO — Farm groups are offering guarded praise for a new drought-response bill by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein that would provide funding for water storage and encourage more capturing of storm waters during wet winters.

The San Francisco Democrat proposes devoting $1.3 billion to long-term projects, including $600,000 in federal funds to augment potential Proposition 1 projects as the proposed Sites Reservoir near Maxwell, Calif., or the planned Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno.

Some of the money could also be put toward raising Shasta Dam by as much as 18 feet, which was found by federal officials to be technically and economically feasible but faces tribal opposition and would be ineligible for Proposition 1 funding.

Feinstein also proposes assistance for drought-stricken communities and money for desalination and water recycling.

Feinstein’s bill would also encourage decisions to pump water south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta be based on “real-time monitoring information” about fish rather than set models. In a nod to environmentalists, she stops short of proposing mandated pumping levels.

“This bill won’t be everything for everyone — candidly, that’s not possible with California water policy,” Feinstein said when announcing the legislation. “But I believe the bill strikes the right balance.”

California Citrus Mutual president Joel Nelsen, who was in Washington, D.C., last week and met with Feinstein, said her bill would create a more reliable water system for all users.

“She’s introduced a bill that’s positive,” Nelsen told the Capital Press. He added that while the bill doesn’t directly provide more water for the eastern San Joaquin Valley, its water savings elsewhere will ease the overall demand for water.

“She does talk about the agencies doing a better job in determining how much storage is needed and how much flow,” Nelsen said. “Heretofore, there’s been too much of a reliance on modeling. … And the modeling hasn’t done anything to enhance the fish population.”

The California Farm Bureau Federation also praises the bill, arguing it will help Congress move toward final legislation that addresses the state’s chronic water shortages.

“Sen. Feinstein has never been shy about tackling the tough issues, and we appreciate her work to create a California water bill for the Senate’s consideration,” CFBF president Paul Wenger said in a statement. “The Senate must pass this bill so it can advance to a conference committee with the drought bill already passed by the House of Representatives.”

This year’s Feinstein bill hasn’t been co-sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who signed on to her previous legislation. Feinstein explained to CCM officials that “she can no longer wait if she’s going to solve the water problem that’s existed in this state” for years, Nelsen said.

Tom Nassif, president and chief executive officer of Western Growers, said in a statement the senator will have to get support from Boxer and the administrations of President Barack Obama and Gov. Jerry Brown “to have any chance of success.”

“We agree with Sen. Feinstein that ‘we need congressional action, and we need it now,’” Nassif said. “We have already lost billions of gallons of El Nino water to the ocean, water that could have been safely pumped and stored to help us through the current and future droughts.”

Feinstein’s latest bill comes after two previous failed proposals, including last year, when months of meetings with Republicans in the House of Representatives couldn’t produce a compromise. The GOP-led House passed a bill last summer by Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., that sought to provide better access for farms and cities to water now set aside for fish under the Endangered Species Act.

In a statement, Valadao said Feinstein’s latest bill contains “admirable goals” such as desalination and recycling but lacks the mandatory pumping levels he asserts are “absolutely necessary to ensure a secure, reliable water supply for the areas most in need.”

Nelsen said he understands that House Republicans might have felt “betrayed” when Feinstein backed away from including a water provision in budget talks in December. But he said affected parties who are “singularly focused” have been an impediment to resolving the crisis.

“As far as we’re concerned here, you can’t move a solution and create water unless you have the vehicle introduced,” Nelsen said. “That’s what she did.”