I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1841

To authorize the construction of the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System

and to authorize assistance to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System,

Inc., a nonprofit corporation, for the planning and construction of the

water supply system, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 14, 1995

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota (for himself and Mr. MINGE) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To authorize the construction of the Lewis and Clark Rural

Water System and to authorize assistance to the Lewis

and Clark Rural Water System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, for the planning and construction of the water

supply system, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lewis and Clark Rural

5 Water System Act of 1994’’.
2

HR 1841 IH

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 As used in this Act (unless the context clearly re3 quires otherwise):

4 (1) ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT.—The

5 term ‘‘environmental enhancement’’ means the wet6 land and wildlife enhancement activities that are

7 carried out substantially in accordance with the envi8 ronmental enhancement component of the feasibility

9 study.

10 (2) ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT COMPO11 NENT.—The term ‘‘environmental enhancement

12 component’’ means the component described in the

13 report entitled ‘‘Wetlands and Wildlife Enhancement

14 for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System’’,

15 dated April 1991, that is included in the feasibility

16 study.

17 (3) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The term ‘‘feasibility

18 study’’ means the study entitled ‘‘Feasibility Level

19 Evaluation of a Missouri River Regional Water Sup20 ply for South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota’’, dated

21 September 1993, that includes a water conservation

22 plan, environmental report, and environmental en23 hancement component.

24 (4) MEMBER ENTITY.—The term ‘‘member en25 tity’’ means a rural water system or municipality
3

HR 1841 IH

1 that signed a Letter of Commitment to participate

2 in the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System.

3 (5) PROJECT CONSTRUCTION BUDGET.—The

4 term ‘‘project construction budget’’ means the de5 scription of the total amount of funds that are need6 ed for the construction of the water supply system,

7 as contained in the feasibility study.

8 (6) PUMPING AND INCIDENTAL OPERATIONAL

9 REQUIREMENTS.—The term ‘‘pumping and inciden10 tal operational requirements’’ means all power re11 quirements that are incidental to the operation of in12 take facilities, pumping stations, water treatment fa13 cilities, reservoirs, and pipelines up to the point of

14 delivery of water by the Lewis and Clark Rural

15 Water System to each member entity that distrib16 utes water at retail to individual users.

17 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

18 the Secretary of the Interior.

19 (8) WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘water

20 supply system’’ means the Lewis and Clark Rural

21 Water System that is established and operated sub22 stantially in accordance with the feasibility study.
4

HR 1841 IH

1 SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE WATER SUPPLY

2 SYSTEM.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to

4 make grants to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System,

5 Inc., a nonprofit corporation, for the planning and con6 struction of the water supply system.

7 (b) SERVICE AREA.—The water supply system shall

8 provide for safe and adequate municipal, rural, and indus9 trial water supplies, environmental enhancement, mitiga10 tion of wetland areas, and water conservation in—

11 (1) Lake County, McCook County, Minnehaha

12 County, Turner County, Lincoln County, Clay Coun13 ty, and Union County, in southeastern South

14 Dakota;

15 (2) Rock County, and Nobles County, in south16 western Minnesota; and

17 (3) Lyon County, Sioux County, Osceola Coun18 ty, O’Brien County, Dickinson County, and Clay

19 County, in northwestern Iowa.

20 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.—Grants made available

21 under subsection (a) to the Lewis and Clark Rural Water

22 System, Inc. shall not exceed the amount of funds author23 ized under section 10.

24 (d) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC25 TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for

26 the construction of the water supply system until—
5

HR 1841 IH

1 (1) the requirements of the National Environ2 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)

3 have been met;

4 (2) a final engineering report has been prepared

5 and submitted to Congress not less than 90 days be6 fore the commencement of construction of the sys7 tem; and

8 (3) a water conservation program has been de9 veloped and implemented.

10 SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WETLAND AND WILD11 LIFE ENHANCEMENT.

12 (a) INITIAL DEVELOPMENT.—The Secretary shall

13 make grants and other funds available to Lewis and Clark

14 Rural Water System, Inc., and other private, State, and

15 Federal entities, for the initial development of the environ16 mental enhancement component.

17 (b) NONREIMBURSEMENT.—Funds provided under

18 subsection (a) shall be nonreimbursable and nonreturn19 able.

20 SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMS.

21 (a) PURPOSE.—The water conservation program re22 quired under this section shall be designed to ensure that

23 users of water from the water supply system will use the

24 best practicable technology and management techniques to

25 conserve water use.
6

HR 1841 IH

1 (b) DESCRIPTION.—The water conservation pro2 grams shall include—

3 (1) low consumption performance standards for

4 all newly installed plumbing fixtures;

5 (2) leak detection and repair programs;

6 (3) rate schedules that do not include declining

7 block rate schedules for municipal households and

8 special water users (as defined in the feasibility

9 study);

10 (4) public education programs and technical as11 sistance to member entities; and

12 (5) coordinated operation among each rural

13 water system, and each water supply facility in exist14 ence on the date of enactment of this Act, in the

15 service area of the system.

16 (c) REVIEW AND REVISION.—The programs de17 scribed in subsection (b) shall contain provisions for peri18 odic review and revision, in cooperation with the Secretary.

19 SEC. 6. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

20 Mitigation for fish and wildlife losses incurred as a

21 result of the construction and operation of the water sup22 ply system shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on eco23 logical equivalency, concurrent with project construction,

24 as provided in the feasibility study.
7

HR 1841 IH

1 SEC. 7. USE OF PICK–SLOAN POWER.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—From power designated for future

3 irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis4 souri Basin program, the Western Area Power Adminis5 tration shall make available the capacity and energy re6 quired to meet the pumping and incidental operational re7 quirements of the water supply system during the period

8 beginning May 1, and ending October 31, of each year.

9 (b) CONDITIONS.—The capacity and energy described

10 in subsection (a) shall be made available on the following

11 conditions:

12 (1) The water supply system shall be operated

13 on a not-for-profit basis.

14 (2) The water supply system shall contract to

15 purchase the entire electric service requirements of

16 the system, including the capacity and energy made

17 available under subsection (a), from a qualified pref18 erence power supplier that itself purchases power

19 from the Western Area Power Administration.

20 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

21 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

22 be the firm power rate schedule of the Pick-Sloan

23 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin24 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

25 Administration.

26 (4) It shall be agreed by contract among—
8

HR 1841 IH

1 (A) the Western Area Power Administra2 tion;

3 (B) the power supplier with which the

4 water supply system contracts under paragraph

5 (2);

6 (C) the power supplier of the entity de7 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

8 (D) Lewis and Clark Rural Water System,

9 Inc.;

10 that in the case of the capacity and energy made

11 available under subsection (a), the benefit of the

12 rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be

13 passed through to the water supply system, except

14 that the power supplier of the water supply system

15 shall not be precluded from including, in the charges

16 of the supplier to the water system for the electric

17 service, the other usual and customary charges of

18 the supplier.

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

20 This Act shall not limit the authorization for water

21 projects in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota under law

22 in effect on or after the date of enactment of this Act.

23 SEC. 9. WATER RIGHTS.

24 Nothing in this Act—
9

HR 1841 IH

1 (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or

2 an interstate compact governing water;

3 (2) alters the rights of any State to any appro4 priated share of the waters of any body of surface

5 or ground water, whether determined by past or fu6 ture interstate compacts or by past or future legisla7 tive or final judicial allocations;

8 (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State

9 law, or interstate compact, governing water quality

10 or disposal; or

11 (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the abil12 ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any

13 stream or to any ground water resource.

14 SEC. 10. FEDERAL COST SHARE.

15 The Secretary is authorized to provide funds equal

16 to 80 percent of—

17 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

18 construction budget for the planning and construc19 tion of the water supply system under section 3; and

20 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in21 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

22 engineering cost indices after September 1, 1993.

23 SEC. 11. NON-FEDERAL COST SHARE.

24 The non-Federal share of the costs allocated to the

25 water supply system shall be 20 percent of the—
10

HR 1841 IH

1 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

2 construction budget for the planning and construc3 tion of the water supply system under section 3; and

4 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in5 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

6 engineering cost indices after September 1, 1993.

7 SEC. 12. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

8 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary is authorized to

9 allow the Bureau of Reclamation to provide project con10 struction oversight to the water supply system and envi11 ronmental enhancement component for those areas of the

12 water supply system that are described in section 3(b).

13 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

14 amount of funds used by the Bureau of Reclamation for

15 planning and construction of the water supply system may

16 not exceed an amount equal to 1 percent of the amount

17 provided in the total project construction budget for the

18 entire project construction period.

19 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 There are authorized to be appropriated

21 $226,320,000 to carry out this Act, of which not less than

22 $8,487,000 shall be used for the initial development of the

23 environmental enhancement component under section 4,

24 to remain available until expended.

Æ