House approves water project bill with more than $10 million in water projects for Solano and Contra Costa counties

Article Launched: 11/13/2005 08:08:08 AM

House approves water project bill

By Reporter Staff

Rep. George Miller, D-Solano, announced that the House of Representatives approved a final bill Wednesday that includes more than $10 million in water projects for Solano and Contra Costa counties that were included at his request. The Senate is expected to approve identical legislation shortly.

"The bill approved by the House today will help improve local water quality, levee repair, and ship navigation," said Miller.

The bill includes:

• $2.98 million for ongoing maintenance dredging of Pinole Shoal Channel, to ensure the safe transport of crude oil to East Bay area refineries;

• $225,000 for the Army Corps of Engineers to use sediment from the Pinole Shoal Channel to repair levees in the San Joaquin - Sacramento Delta;

• $188,000 for completion of a General Reevaluation Report on the Lower Walnut Creek Channel, which will identify how to combine river restoration goals with flood control objectives; and

• $2 million to help improve drinking water quality, and protect drinking water during emergencies such as Delta levee failures, by constructing a new intake in the Central Delta.

The bill, H.R.2419, provides federal funding for the 2006 fiscal year. It was first passed by the House in May of this year; after the Senate approves it, it will be sent to the President to be signed into law.