Feinstein Gets Green Light to Proceed on Contentious Water Bill

Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s third effort to address California’s drought by expanding the water supply through dams, recycling, desalination and other methods, as well as tinkering with protections for endangered fish, received the go-ahead Tuesday from the federal Bureau of Reclamation at a Senate hearing.

Estevan Lopez, a bureau commissioner, called Feinstein’s bill, S2533, a “measured approach” that would “improve the water supply situation in California” while protecting the environment and endangered salmon. The bureau manages California’s Central Valley Project, a giant plumbing system of dams and canals that moves water from the state’s wet north to the dry