104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 811

AMENDMENTS
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

September 24, 1996.

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 811) entitled

‘‘An Act to authorize research into the desalinization and reclamation of water and authorize a program for States, cities,

or qualifying agencies desiring to own and oeprate a water

desalinazation or reclamation facility to develop such facilities, and for other purposes’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENTS:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert:
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Water Desalination Act

3 of 1996’’.

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

5 As used in this Act:

6 (1) DESALINATION OR DESALTING.—The terms

7 ‘‘desalination’’ or ‘‘desalting’’ mean the use of any

8 process or technique for the removal and, when fea9 sible, adaptation to beneficial use, of organic and in10 organic elements and compounds from saline or bio11 logically impaired waters, by itself or in conjunction

12 with other processes.

13 (2) SALINE WATER.—The term ‘‘saline water’’

14 means sea water, brackish water, and other mineral15 ized or chemically impaired water.

16 (3) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United States’’

17 means the States of the United States, the District of

18 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the

19 territories and possessions of the United States.

20 (4) USABLE WATER.—The term ‘‘usable water’’

21 means water of a high quality suitable for environ22 mental enhancement, agricultural, industrial, munic23 ipal, and other beneficial consumptive or non24 consumptive uses.

25 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

26 the Secretary of the Interior.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF RESEARCH AND STUDIES.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to determine the most cost3 effective and technologically efficient means by which usable

4 water can be produced from saline water or water otherwise

5 impaired or contaminated, the Secretary is authorized to

6 award grants and to enter into contracts, to the extent pro7 vided in advance in appropriation Acts, to conduct, encour8 age, and assist in the financing of research to develop proc9 esses for converting saline water into water suitable for ben10 eficial uses. Awards of research grants and contracts under

11 this section shall be made on the basis of a competitive,

12 merit-reviewed process. Research and study topics author13 ized by this section include—

14 (1) investigating desalination processes;

15 (2) ascertaining the optimum mix of investment

16 and operating costs;

17 (3) determining the best designs for different con18 ditions of operation;

19 (4) investigating methods of increasing the eco20 nomic efficiency of desalination processes through

21 dual-purpose co-facilities with other processes involv22 ing the use of water;

23 (5) conducting or contracting for technical work,

24 including the design, construction, and testing of pilot

25 systems and test beds, to develop desalting processes

26 and concepts;
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1 (6) studying methods for the recovery of byprod2 ucts resulting from desalination to offset the costs of

3 treatment and to reduce environmental impacts from

4 those byproducts; and

5 (7) salinity modeling and toxicity analysis of

6 brine discharges, cost reduction strategies for con7 structing and operating desalination facilities, and

8 the horticultural effects of desalinated water used for

9 irrigation.

10 (b) PROJECT RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS TO

11 THE CONGRESS.—As soon as practicable and within three

12 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary

13 shall recommend to Congress desalination demonstration

14 projects or full-scale desalination projects to carry out the

15 purposes of this Act and to further evaluate and implement

16 the results of research and studies conducted under the au17 thority of this section. Recommendations for projects shall

18 be accompanied by reports on the engineering and economic

19 feasibility of proposed projects and their environmental im20 pacts.

21 (c) AUTHORITY TO ENGAGE OTHERS.—In carrying

22 out research and studies authorized in this section, the Sec23 retary may engage the necessary personnel, industrial or

24 engineering firms, Federal laboratories, water resources re25 search and technology institutes, other facilities, and edu-
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1 cational institutions suitable to conduct investigations and

2 studies authorized under this section.

3 (d) ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGIES.—In carrying out

4 the purposes of this Act, the Secretary shall ensure that at

5 least three separate technologies are evaluated and dem6 onstrated for the purposes of accomplishing desalination.

7 SEC. 4. DESALINATION DEMONSTRATION AND DEVELOP8 MENT.

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—In order to further demonstrate the

10 feasibility of desalination processes investigated either inde11 pendently or in research conducted pursuant to section 3,

12 the Secretary shall administer and conduct a demonstration

13 and development program for water desalination and relat14 ed activities, including the following:

15 (1) DESALINATION PLANTS AND MODULES.—

16 Conduct or contract for technical work, including the

17 design, construction, and testing of plants and mod18 ules to develop desalination processes and concepts.

19 (2) BYPRODUCTS.—Study methods for the mar20 keting of byproducts resulting from the desalting of

21 water to offset the costs of treatment and to reduce en22 vironmental impacts of those byproducts.

23 (3) ECONOMIC SURVEYS.—Conduct economic

24 studies and surveys to determine present and prospec25 tive costs of producing water for beneficial purposes
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1 in various locations by desalination processes com2 pared to other methods.

3 (b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—Federal participa4 tion in desalination activities may be conducted through

5 cooperative agreements, including cost-sharing agreements,

6 with non-Federal public utilities and State and local gov7 ernmental agencies and other entities, in order to develop

8 recommendations for Federal participation in processes and

9 plants utilizing desalting technologies for the production of

10 water.

11 SEC. 5. AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.

12 All information from studies sponsored or funded

13 under authority of this Act shall be considered public infor14 mation.

15 SEC. 6. TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE.

16 The Secretary may—

17 (1) accept technical and administrative assist18 ance from States and public or private agencies in

19 connection with studies, surveys, location, construc20 tion, operation, and other work relating to the

21 desalting of water, and

22 (2) enter into contracts or agreements stating the

23 purposes for which the assistance is contributed and

24 providing for the sharing of costs between the Sec25 retary and any such agency.
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1 SEC. 7. COST SHARING.

2 The Federal share of the cost of a research, study, or

3 demonstration project or a desalination development project

4 or activity carried out under this Act shall not exceed 50

5 percent of the total cost of the project or research or study

6 activity. A Federal contribution in excess of 25 percent for

7 a project carried out under this Act may not be made unless

8 the Secretary determines that the project is not feasible

9 without such increased Federal contribution. The Secretary

10 shall prescribe appropriate procedures to implement the

11 provisions of this section. Costs of operation, maintenance,

12 repair, and rehabilitation of facilities funded under the au13 thority of this Act shall be non-Federal responsibilities.

14 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

15 (a) SECTION 3.—There are authorized to be appro16 priated to carry out section 3 of this Act $5,000,000 per

17 year for fiscal years 1997 through 2002. Of these amounts,

18 up to $1,000,000 in each fiscal year may be awarded to

19 institutions of higher education, including United States20 Mexico binational research foundations and interuniversity

21 research programs established by the two countries, for re22 search grants without any cost-sharing requirement.

23 (b) SECTION 4.—There are authorized to be appro24 priated to carry out section 4 of this Act $25,000,000 for

25 fiscal years 1997 through 2002.
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1 SEC. 9. CONSULTATION.

2 In carrying out the provisions of this Act, the Sec3 retary shall consult with the heads of other Federal agencies,

4 including the Secretary of the Army, which have experience

5 in conducting desalination research or operating desalina6 tion facilities. The authorization provided for in this Act

7 shall not prohibit other agencies from carrying out sepa8 rately authorized programs for desalination research or op9 erations.

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to authorize

the Secretary of the Interior to conduct studies regarding

the desalination of water and water reuse, and for other

purposes.’’.

Attest:

Clerk.