Californians Appeal for Water Projects : Congress Gets a Flood of Requests

The hearing room in the House’s Rayburn Office Building was crowded with California faces Thursday when Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), appealing for approval of $15 million for a flood control project, observed that Disneyland is in his district.

“Wouldn’t it be a tragedy if Mickey Mouse, in his 62nd year, would find himself in a flood?” he asked.

“Can’t he get Donald Duck to save him?” quipped Rep. John Myers (R-Ind.), a member of the House subcommittee considering the perennial legislation that authorizes federal water projects, sometimes derisively known as a “pork-barrel” bill.

It was one of the more light-hearted moments at the every-springtime “California day,” when dozens of county and city officials from the state descend on Capitol Hill to request federal aid for their problems with too much water--or not enough of it.

But there was a serious undertone to the testimony in view of California’s water shortage this year and extensive flooding in 1986 that caused billions of dollars in damage across the state.

From breakwaters at Redondo Beach to dredging at Moro Bay, the projects were supported by the largest group of witnesses sent by any state. In a show of solidarity, 18 members of the California delegation appeared personally to lend their support to requests.

With the mounting needs, however, there are shrinking federal resources, according to Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), a subcommittee member.

President Reagan proposed $294.8 million for 155 California projects in this year’s budget, compared to $370.4 million requested by the scores of witnesses and officials from the state.

Fazio noted that the House Appropriations panel will have to cut sharply below the President’s figures to meet budget ceilings imposed by a White House-Congress agreement last November.

“Sometimes when it’s painful, we say ‘No new starts,’ and completion of work already begun is our highest priority so it starts returning dollars to the Treasury,” Fazio told reporters after the hearing.

At the subcommittee hearing, however, the wish lists seemed as long as ever as county and city officials testified in brisk succession. Most witnesses, in fact, merely identified themselves and submitted written statements for the record at the 90-minute session devoted to California. In the afternoon, the same ritual was repeated before a Senate subcommittee on water projects.

But those who made the cross-country trip to Washington said that it was worthwhile, because they were able to make a personal appearance, contact their congressmen and meet officials of the Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation who are involved with the water projects.

Prospects seem good for approval of $15 million for the Santa Ana River project, which would affect flood plains in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and which prompted Dornan’s Disneyland comment. The money would allow construction to begin on the project after years of planning and feasibility studies.

“It’s very exciting to realize that this project can become a reality,” said Orange County Supervisor Harriett Wieder. She said that the county has $80 million ready to spend for land acquisition and indicated that an early decision by Congress would help reduce the cost.

Cost Estimate

Outside the hearing room, flood control engineer Ken Miller of San Bernardino said the Santa Ana project would eventually cost $1.2 billion, making it the biggest of its kind supervised by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The project is designed to protect 2 million people in the flood plain and prevent potential damages of $12 billion.