Perkins County Rural Water System Act of 1996

Summary: Perkins County Rural Water System Act of 1996 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to make grants for the planning and construction of the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.  Prohibits the obligation of System construction funds until:  (1) Federal environmental compliance requirements have been met; (2) a final System engineering report has been prepared and submitted to the Congress for at least a 90-day period; and (3) a water conservation program has been developed and implemented. 
Requires the water conservation program to be designed to ensure that System water users will use the best practicable technology and management techniques to conserve water use. 
Requires the mitigation of fish and wildlife losses during System construction and operation. 
Directs the Western Area Power Administration to make available, from power produced under the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program, the capacity and energy required to meet the pumping and incidental operational requirements of the System from May 1 to October 31 of each year.  Provides power use conditions. 
States that this Act does not limit:  (1) the authorization for water projects in North and South Dakota under any law; or (2) current water rights. 
Provides the Federal share (75 percent) of System costs. 
Authorizes the Secretary to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to provide construction oversight to a specified service area within the System, limiting oversight costs. 
Authorizes appropriations.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Perkins County Rural Water System 
Act of 1996''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) there are insufficient water supplies of reasonable 
        quality available to the members of the Perkins County Rural 
        Water System located in Perkins County, South Dakota, and the 
        water supplies that are available do not meet the minimum 
        health and safety standards, thereby posing a threat to public 
        health and safety;
            (2) in 1977 the North Dakota State Legislature authorized 
        and directed the State Water Commission to conduct the 
        Southwest Area Water Supply Study, which included water service 
        to a portion of Perkins County, South Dakota;
            (3) the Garrison Diversion Unit Reformulation Act of 1986 
        authorized the Southwest Pipeline project as an eligible 
        project for Federal cost share participation;
            (4) the Perkins County Rural Water System has continued to 
        be recognized by the State of North Dakota, the Southwest Water 
        Authority, the North Dakota Water Commission, the Department of 
        the Interior, and the Congress of the United States as a 
        component of the Southwest Pipeline Project; and
            (5) the best available, reliable, and safe rural and 
        municipal water supply to serve the needs of the Perkins County 
        Rural Water System, Inc., members is the Missouri River as 
        delivered by the Southwest Pipeline Project in North Dakota.
    (b) Purposes.--The Congress declares that the purposes of sections 
1 through 13 are to--
            (1) ensure a safe and adequate municipal, rural, and 
        industrial water supply for the members of the Perkins County 
        Rural Water Supply System, Inc., in Perkins County, South 
        Dakota;
            (2) assist the citizens of the Perkins County Rural Water 
        Supply System, Inc., to develop safe and adequate municipal, 
        rural, and industrial water supplies; and
            (3) promote the implementation of water conservation 
        programs by the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act (unless the context clearly requires 
otherwise):
            (1) Feasibility study.--The term ``feasibility study'' 
        means the study entitled ``Feasibility Study for Rural Water 
        System for Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.'', as 
        amended in March 1995.
            (2) Project construction budget.--The term ``project 
        construction budget'' means the description of the total amount 
        of funds that are needed for the construction of the water 
supply system, as contained in the feasibility study.
            (3) Pumping and incidental operational requirements.--The 
        term ``pumping and incidental operational requirements'' means 
        all power requirements that are incidental to the operation of 
        intake facilities, pumping stations, water treatment 
        facilities, reservoirs, and pipelines up to the point of 
        delivery of water by the Perkins County Rural Water System to 
        each entity that distributes water at retail to individual 
        users.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (5) Water supply system.--The term ``water supply system'' 
        means the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc., that is 
        established and operated substantially in accordance with the 
        feasibility study.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary is authorized to make grants to the 
Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, for 
the planning and construction of the water supply system.
    (b) Service Area.--The water supply system shall provide for safe 
and adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supplies, 
mitigation of wetlands areas, and water conservation in Perkins County, 
South Dakota.
    (c) Amount of Grants.--Grants made available under subsection (a) 
to the Perkins County Water System, Inc., shall not exceed the amount 
authorized under section 10.
    (d) Limitation on Availability of Construction Funds.--The 
Secretary shall not obligate funds for the construction of the water 
supply system until--
            (1) the requirements of the National Environmental Policy 
        Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) have been met;
            (2) a final engineering report has been prepared and 
        submitted to the Congress for a period of not less than 90 days 
        before the commencement of construction of the system; and
            (3) a water conservation program has been developed and 
        implemented.

SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION.

    (a) Purpose.--The water conservation program required under this 
section shall be designed to ensure that users of water from the water 
supply system will use the best practicable technology and management 
techniques to conserve water use.
    (b) Description.--The water conservation programs shall include--
            (1) low consumption performance standards for all newly 
        installed plumbing fixtures;
            (2) leak detection and repair programs;
            (3) rate structures that do not include declining block 
        rate schedules for municipal households and special water users 
        (as defined in the feasibility study);
            (4) public education programs;
            (5) coordinated operation between the Perkins County Rural 
        Water System and any preexisting water supply facilities within 
        its service area; and
            (6) coordinated operation between the Southwest Pipeline 
        Project of North Dakota and the Perkins County Rural Water 
        System, Inc., of South Dakota.
    (c) Review and Revision.--The programs described in subsection (b) 
shall contain provisions for periodic review and revision, in 
cooperation with the Secretary.

SEC. 6. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

    Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a result of the 
construction and operation of the Perkins County Rural Water Supply 
System shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on ecological 
equivalency, concurrent with project construction, as provided in the 
feasibility study.

SEC. 7. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

    (a) In General.--From power designated for future irrigation and 
drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program, the 
Western Area Power Administration shall make available the capacity and 
energy required to meet the pumping and incidental operational 
requirements of the water supply system during the period beginning May 
1, and ending October 31, of each year.
    (b) Conditions.--The capacity and energy described in subsection 
(a) shall be made available on the following conditions:
            (1) The water supply system shall be operated on a not-for-
        profit basis.
            (2) The water supply system shall contract to purchase its 
        entire electric service requirements, including the capacity 
        and energy made available under subsection (a), from a 
        qualified preference power supplier that itself purchases power 
        from the Western Area Power Administration.
            (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity and energy 
        made available under subsection (a) shall be the firm power 
        rate schedule of the Pick-Sloan Eastern Division of the Western 
        Area Power Administration in effect when the power is delivered 
        by the Administration.
            (4) It shall be agreed by contract among--
                    (A) the Western Area Power Administration;
                    (B) the power supplier with which the water supply 
                system contracts under paragraph (2);
                    (C) the power supplier of the entity described in 
                subparagraph (B); and
                    (D) the Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc.,
        that in the case of the capacity and energy made available 
        under subsection (a), the benefit of the rate schedule 
        described in paragraph (3) shall be passed through to the water 
        supply system, except that the power supplier of the water 
        supply system shall not be precluded from including, in the 
        charges of the supplier to the water system for the electric 
        service, the other usual and customary charges of the supplier.

SEC. 8. NO LIMITATION ON WATER PROJECTS IN STATES.

    This Act shall not limit the authorization for water projects in 
South Dakota and North Dakota under law in effect on or after the date 
of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 9. WATER RIGHTS.

    Nothing in this Act--
            (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or an 
        interstate compact governing water;
            (2) alters the rights of any State to any appropriated 
        share of the waters of any body of surface or ground water, 
        whether determined by past or future interstate compacts or by 
        past or future legislative or final judicial allocations;
            (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State law, or 
        interstate compact, dealing with water quality or disposal; or
            (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the ability to 
        exercise any Federal right to the waters of any stream or to 
        any ground water resource.

SEC. 10. FEDERAL COST SHARE.

    The Secretary is authorized to provide funds equal to 75 percent 
of--
            (1) the amount allocated in the total project construction 
        budget for the planning and construction of the water supply 
        system under section 4; and
            (2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in 
        development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
        indices after May 1, 1994.

SEC. 11. NON-FEDERAL COST SHARE.

    The non-Federal share of the costs allocated to the water supply 
system shall be 25 percent of--
            (1) the amount allocated in the total project construction 
        budget for the planning and construction of the water supply 
        system under section 4; and
            (2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in 
        development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
        indices after May 1, 1994.

SEC. 12. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION AUTHORIZATION.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary is authorized to allow the Bureau 
of Reclamation to provide construction oversight to the water supply 
system for those areas of the water supply system that are described in 
section 4(b).
    (b) Project Oversight Administration.--The amount of funds used by 
the Bureau of Reclamation for planning and construction of the water 
supply system may not exceed an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount 
provided in the total project construction budget for the portion of 
the project to be constructed in Perkins County, South Dakota.

SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for the 
planning and construction of the water system under section 4, plus 
such sums as are necessary to defray increases in development costs 
reflected in appropriate engineering cost indices after May 1, 1994.