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<br />It <br /> <br />Before the California State <br />Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources <br />Testimony of: <br />Steven Robbins <br />Interim General Manager-Chief Engineer <br />Coachella Valley Water District <br />January 21, 2003 <br />Sacramento, California <br /> <br />Mr. Chairman and honorable committee members, thank you for the opportunity to offer our <br />perspective and observations on the crisis facing California with respect to current and future <br />water supplies. <br /> <br />I do not use the word lightly, but I must emphasize that we are in a crisis. <br /> <br />Perhaps, as representatives of the Metropolitan Water District have suggested, there is no <br />immediate crisis with respect to current water supplies but there is a crisis. <br /> <br />Since the participating water agencies failed to reach an accord by the December 31 deadline, <br />no one has gone thirsty because water didn't come out of his or her faucet. None of the farmers <br />who rely on Colorado River water to irrigate their crops have seen their fields go dry. No one has <br />been forced to pack up and move to another state, or close the doors to a business because there <br />is not enough water to go around. It may be entirely possible to continue with the status quo for a <br />year, perhaps two, maybe even longer. <br /> <br />Of course, any child can tell you about the grasshopper who fiddled his way through the <br />summer without a care in the world, thumbing his nose at the hard-working ants, laughing at <br />their efforts to prepare for the future. He laughed, that is, until the arrival of a brutal winter that <br />left him without food. He starved to death. <br /> <br />Regardless of the weather or our water storage capacity, however, we will reach the point <br />when the demand for water will outstrip the ability of water districts to supply it. <br />