Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, will convene a joint hearing to examine legislative approaches to protecting, preserving, and restoring great water bodies. The Committee will hear expert views on legislation to help restore Lake Tahoe, S. 2724 the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, and to restore the Puget Sound, S. 2739 the Puget Sound Recovery Act. It also will look at legislative approaches Congress might take to facilitate the restoration of three other treasured waters: the Long Island Sound, the Columbia River Basin and the Great Lakes. Each of these vast water bodies is special and iconic, yet each is threatened by degraded water quality.