Water Agency and Transparency Enhancement Review (WATER) Act

This legislation, titled the Water Agency and Transparency Enhancement Review (WATER) Act, seeks to codify specific provisions of Executive Order 14181 to improve water resource availability in California and enhance disaster response. It mandates the Secretaries of the Interior and Commerce to identify all major water-supply and storage projects within California, including surface, groundwater, and aquifer recharge projects, for which they have responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. For each identified project, the Secretaries must designate a Federal official responsible for coordinating compliance. These officials are tasked with identifying any regulatory hurdles that unnecessarily obstruct or delay these projects, as well as recent changes in applicable State or Federal law. Within 30 days, they must develop a plan to suspend, revise, or rescind regulations or procedures that unduly burden these projects, provided they are not essential for public interest or legal compliance, thereby streamlining water infrastructure development and delivery.