FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Valley Congressman David Valadao is in the South Valley, highlighting the need for better water storage systems throughout California.
He toured the Friant Dam Tuesday morning with members of the House Natural Resources Committee.
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Officials say 9,000 cubic feet of water per second are being released through the dam instead of being stored for farming and community use.
Valadao says the permitting process for infrastructure projects is taking too long to make any progress.
It's believed more needs to be done now to protect land and Californians from rising floodwaters before summer.
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"The problems that we're going to have are going to continue not just for the next week or two," he said. "They're going to continue for the next couple of months as snow starts to melt, and depending on how fast that snow melts will tell us how bad these problems are going to get."
Lawmakers say work needs to be done to protect Californians from the water abundance impacting housing and food supplies.