II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2117

To authorize the construction of the Perkins County Rural Water System

and authorize financial assistance to the Perkins County Rural Water

System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, in the planning and construction

of the water supply system, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 22, 1998

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To authorize the construction of the Perkins County Rural

Water System and authorize financial assistance to the

Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc., a nonprofit

corporation, in 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 ‘‘Perkins County Rural

5 Water System Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
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1 (1) there are insufficient water supplies of rea2 sonable quality available to the members of the Per3 kins County Rural Water System located in Perkins

4 County, South Dakota, and the water supplies that

5 are available do not meet minimum health and safe6 ty standards, thereby posing a threat to public

7 health and safety;

8 (2) in 1977, the North Dakota State Legisla9 ture authorized and directed the State Water Com10 mission to conduct the Southwest Area Water Sup11 ply Study, which included water service to a portion

12 of Perkins County, South Dakota;

13 (3) amendments made by the Garrison Diver14 sion Unit Reformulation Act of 1986 (Public Law

15 101–294) authorized the Southwest Pipeline project

16 as an eligible project for Federal cost share partici17 pation;

18 (4) the Perkins County Rural Water System

19 has continued to be recognized by the State of North

20 Dakota, the Southwest Water Authority, the North

21 Dakota Water Commission, the Department of the

22 Interior, and Congress as a component of the South23 west Pipeline Project; and

24 (5) the best available, reliable, and safe rural

25 and municipal water supply to serve the needs of the
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1 Perkins County Rural Water System, Inc., members

2 is the waters of the Missouri River as delivered by

3 the Southwest Pipeline Project in North Dakota.

4 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

5 (1) to ensure a safe and adequate municipal,

6 rural, and industrial water supply for the members

7 of the Perkins County Rural Water Supply System,

8 Inc., in Perkins County, South Dakota;

9 (2) to assist the members of the Perkins Coun10 ty Rural Water Supply System, Inc., in developing

11 safe and adequate municipal, rural, and industrial

12 water supplies; and

13 (3) to promote the implementation of water

14 conservation programs by the Perkins County Rural

15 Water System, Inc.

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

17 In this Act:

18 (1) FEASIBILITY STUDY.—The term ‘‘feasibility

19 study’’ means the study entitled ‘‘Feasibility Study

20 for Rural Water System for Perkins County Rural

21 Water System, Inc.’’, as amended in March 1995.

22 (2) PROJECT CONSTRUCTION BUDGET.—The

23 term ‘‘project construction budget’’ means the de24 scription of the total amount of funds that are need-
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1 ed for the construction of the water supply system,

2 as described in the feasibility study.

3 (3) PUMPING AND INCIDENTAL OPERATIONAL

4 REQUIREMENTS.—The term ‘‘pumping and inciden5 tal operational requirements’’ means all power re6 quirements that are incidental to the operation of in7 take facilities, pumping stations, water treatment fa8 cilities, cooling facilities, reservoirs, and pipelines to

9 the point of delivery of water by the Perkins County

10 Rural Water System to each entity that distributes

11 water at retail to individual users.

12 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

13 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the

14 Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation.

15 (5) WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘water

16 supply system’’ means the Perkins County Rural

17 Water System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, estab18 lished and operated substantially in accordance with

19 the feasibility study.

20 SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATER SUPPLY SYS21 TEM.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make grants

23 to the water supply system for the Federal share of the

24 costs of—
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1 (1) the planning and construction of the water

2 supply system; and

3 (2) repairs to existing public water distribution

4 systems to ensure conservation of the resources and

5 to make the systems functional under the new water

6 supply system.

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

8 provide for safe and adequate municipal, rural, and indus9 trial water supplies, mitigation of wetlands areas, repairs

10 to existing public water distribution systems, and water

11 conservation in Perkins County, South Dakota.

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

13 under subsection (a) to the water supply system shall not

14 exceed the Federal share under section 10.

15 (d) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC16 TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for

17 the construction of the water supply system until—

18 (1) the requirements of the National Environ19 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)

20 are met with respect to the water supply system;

21 (2) a final engineering report has been prepared

22 and submitted to Congress for a period of not less

23 than 90 days before the commencement of construc24 tion of the system; and
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1 (3) the water supply system has developed and

2 implemented a water conservation program.

3 SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The water conservation program

5 under section 4(d)(3) shall be designed to ensure that

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

7 best practicable technology and management techniques to

8 conserve water use.

9 (b) DESCRIPTION.—The water conservation program

10 shall include—

11 (1) low consumption performance standards for

12 all newly installed plumbing fixtures;

13 (2) leak detection and repair programs;

14 (3) rate structures that do not include declining

15 block rate schedules for municipal households or spe16 cial water users (as defined in the feasibility study);

17 (4) public education programs;

18 (5) coordinated operation and maintenance (in19 cluding necessary repairs to ensure minimal water

20 losses) by and between the water supply system and

21 any member of the system that is a preexisting

22 water supply facility within the service area of the

23 system; and

24 (6) coordinated operation between the South25 west Pipeline Project of North Dakota and the Per-
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1 kins County Rural Water System, Inc., of South Da2 kota.

3 (c) REVIEW AND REVISION.—The program described

4 in subsection (b) shall contain provisions for periodic re5 view and revision, in cooperation with the Secretary.

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

7 Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a

8 result of the construction and operation of the water sup9 ply system shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on eco10 logical equivalency, concurrent with project construction,

11 as provided in the feasibility study.

12 SEC. 7. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

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

14 irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis15 souri River Basin Program, the Western Area Power Ad16 ministration shall make available the capacity and energy

17 required to meet the pumping and incidental operational

18 requirements of the water supply system during the period

19 beginning May 1 and ending October 31 of each year.

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

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

22 conditions:

23 (1) The water supply system shall be operated

24 on a not-for-profit basis.
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1 (2) The water supply system shall contract to

2 purchase its entire electric service requirements, in3 cluding the capacity and energy made available

4 under subsection (a), from a qualified preference

5 power supplier that itself purchases power from the

6 Western Area Power Administration.

7 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

8 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

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

10 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin11 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

12 Administration.

13 (4) It shall be agreed by contract among—

14 (A) the Western Area Power Administra15 tion;

16 (B) the power supplier with which the

17 water supply system contracts under paragraph

18 (2);

19 (C) the power supplier of the entity de20 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

21 (D) the Perkins County Rural Water Sys22 tem, Inc.;

23 that in the case of the capacity and energy made

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

25 rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be
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1 passed through to the water supply system, except

2 that the power supplier of the water supply system

3 shall not be precluded from including, in the charges

4 of the supplier to the water system for the electric

5 service, the other usual and customary charges of

6 the supplier.

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

8 This Act does not limit the authorization for water

9 projects in South Dakota and North Dakota under law

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

11 SEC. 9. WATER RIGHTS.

12 Nothing in this Act—

13 (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or

14 an interstate compact governing water;

15 (2) alters the rights of any State to any appro16 priated share of the waters of any body of surface

17 or ground water, whether determined by past or fu18 ture interstate compacts or by past or future legisla19 tive or final judicial allocations;

20 (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State

21 law, or interstate compact, dealing with water qual22 ity or disposal; or

23 (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the abil24 ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any

25 stream or to any ground water resource.
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1 SEC. 10. FEDERAL SHARE.

2 The Federal share under section 4 shall be 75 percent

3 of—

4 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

5 construction budget for the planning and construc6 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

7 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in8 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

9 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

10 SEC. 11. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.

11 The non-Federal share under section 4 shall be 25

12 percent of—

13 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

14 construction budget for the planning and construc15 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

16 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in17 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

18 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

19 SEC. 12. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.

20 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary may provide

21 construction oversight to the water supply system for

22 areas of the water supply system.

23 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

24 amount of funds used by the Secretary for planning and

25 construction of the water supply system may not exceed

26 an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in
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1 the total project construction budget for the portion of the

2 project to be constructed in Perkins County, South Da3 kota.

4 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

5 There are authorized to be appropriated—

6 (1) $15,000,000 for the planning and construc7 tion of the water system under section 4; and

8 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in9 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

10 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

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