1、 www.crs.gov | 7-5700 June 25, 2015Westlands Drainage Settlement: A PrimerBackground The Westlands Water District provides water to users in the Western San Joaquin Valley. It is located within the San Luis Unit of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamations (“Reclamation”) Central Valley Project. In its initia
2、l feasibility report for the San Luis Unit, Reclamation indicated that drainage facilities would be required to carry away waste irrigation water in order to prevent salt accumulations that would render the soil unfit for irrigation. For that reason, the San Luis Act, P.L. 86-488, 74 Stat. 156 (1960
3、), which authorized the creation of the San Luis Unit, prohibited Reclamation from commencing construction of the San Luis Unit until it either received assurances from the state of California that it would provide a master drainage outlet for the San Joaquin Valley or Reclamation had provided for t
4、he construction of an “interceptor drain” (as described in Reclamations feasibility study) that would meet the drainage requirements of the San Luis Unit. After the state of California notified Reclamation that it would not provide a master drain for the San Joaquin Valley, Reclamation informed Cong
