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[Pages S5409-S5410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mrs. FEINSTEIN (for herself and Ms. Harris):
[[Page S5410]]
S. 4530. A bill to establish a Snow Water Supply Forecasting Program
within the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes; to the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of the Snow
Water Supply Forecasting Program Authorization Act, which I introduced
today with Senator Harris. Representatives Josh Harder, John Garamendi,
Jerry McNerney, Grace Napolitano, T.J. Cox, and Ami Bera--all Democrats
from California--and Diana DeGette and Joe Neguse--both Democrats from
Colorado--have introduced identical companion legislation in the House.
Airborne snow observatory, ASO, technology is a snow monitoring tool
that provides precise measurement of depth and water content for every
square meter of snow in a watershed. The technology measures snow depth
and water content using an airplane-mounted light detection, LiDAR,
instrument coupled with an imaging spectrometer.
When combined with conventional snow surveys, ASO provides a near-
perfect picture of snow water content.
By near perfect, I mean that ASO estimates snowpack and runoff
forecast with 96 to 99 percent accuracy. This is much better than
current practices, which only measure snowpack and runoff with 50 to 90
percent accuracy.
These forecast accuracies are achieved by comparing LiDAR
measurements of bare ground topography in the summer with multiple
measurements of snow depth during the winter. The greatest accuracies
are based on once-a-month flights in watersheds earlier in the winter,
and twice monthly flights during the spring runoff period.
The much more precise measurements of snowpack that ASO provides will
be critical in better managing competing missions of western water
storage reservoirs for flood control and water supply amidst a changing
climate and growing population.
For example, in a single year, 2018, Turlock Irrigation District used
this technology in the Tuolumne River watershed to save 150,000 acre-
feet of water supply.
Because they knew precisely how much snow was in the upper watershed
of the Tuolumne, Turlock was able to avoid a release of 150,000 acre-
feet of water from Don Pedro Reservoir that otherwise would have been
required for flood control.
Without ASO technology, Turlock would have had to assume for safety
purposes that the melting snow in the upper Tuolumne watershed was at
the high end of a wide range of guesstimates using conventional
snowpack technology. With the possibility of a big snowmelt, Turlock
would have had to release the extra 150,000 acre feet of water.
With water in California often costing $1000 per acre foot or more,
errors in water-storage management can cost hundreds of millions of
dollars in unnecessary releases from reservoirs and extra groundwater
pumping.
Additional ASO flights to better measure snowpack often have a high
return on investment, by one estimate as much as 40:1 for water supply
benefits, and 80:1 for all benefits, including hydro, recharge, flood
control, and ecosystem benefits.
After several years developing and refining the deployment of
snowpack measurement technology, in December 2019, NASA concluded
management of the-ASO program and transferred it to the private sector.
While consistent with NASA's traditional approach to developing new
technologies, this transfer reduces the certainty for Federal support
of a program with significant public benefits, including improved water
conservation, supply and delivery forecasts across the West.
The bill establishes a snow pack forecasting program at the Bureau of
Reclamation within the Department of the Interior.
The Bureau shall implement the program in two phases:
No. 1, the first step is to coordinate with other Federal agencies on
how they will work together to improve analyses of snowpack depth. This
interagency process will result in a report due to Congress by October
21, 2021.
No. 2, following the completion of the report, the Bureau will cost-
share with States, water districts, other Federal agencies and other
partners on increased LiDAR flights and other activities in particular
watersheds.
This program is expected to benefit many Western States, including
but not limited to Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains; the Front Range
of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico; and the
Colorado River tributaries in Utah and Arizona, and the Pacific
Northwest.
Fifteen million dollars would be authorized for the program from
fiscal years 2022 to 2026.
I hope my colleagues will join me in support of this bill.
____________________
