II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 243

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

JANUARY 19, 1999

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 1999’’.

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 and

22 (2) a final engineering report and a plan for a

23 water conservation program have been prepared and

24 submitted to Congress for a period of not less than
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1 90 days before the commencement of construction of

2 the system.

3 SEC. 5. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

4 Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a

5 result of the construction and operation of the water sup6 ply system shall be on an acre-for-acre basis, based on eco7 logical equivalency, concurrent with project construction,

8 as provided in the feasibility study.

9 SEC. 6. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

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

11 irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis12 souri River Basin Program, the Western Area Power Ad13 ministration shall make available the capacity and energy

14 required to meet the pumping and incidental operational

15 requirements of the water supply system during the period

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

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

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

19 conditions:

20 (1) The water supply system shall be operated

21 on a not-for-profit basis.

22 (2) The water supply system shall contract to

23 purchase its entire electric service requirements, in24 cluding the capacity and energy made available

25 under subsection (a), from a qualified preference
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1 power supplier that itself purchases power from the

2 Western Area Power Administration.

3 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

4 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

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

6 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin7 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

8 Administration.

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

10 (A) the Western Area Power Administra11 tion;

12 (B) the power supplier with which the

13 water supply system contracts under paragraph

14 (2);

15 (C) the power supplier of the entity de16 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

17 (D) the Perkins County Rural Water Sys18 tem, Inc.;

19 that in the case of the capacity and energy made

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

21 rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be

22 passed through to the water supply system, except

23 that the power supplier of the water supply system

24 shall not be precluded from including, in the charges

25 of the supplier to the water system for the electric
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1 service, the other usual and customary charges of

2 the supplier.

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

4 This Act does not limit the authorization for water

5 projects in South Dakota and North Dakota under law

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

7 SEC. 8. WATER RIGHTS.

8 Nothing in this Act—

9 (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or

10 an interstate compact governing water;

11 (2) alters the rights of any State to any appro12 priated share of the waters of any body of surface

13 or ground water, whether determined by past or fu14 ture interstate compacts or by past or future legisla15 tive or final judicial allocations;

16 (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State

17 law, or interstate compact, dealing with water qual18 ity or disposal; or

19 (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the abil20 ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any

21 stream or to any ground water resource.

22 SEC. 9. FEDERAL SHARE.

23 The Federal share under section 4 shall be 75 percent

24 of—
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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 4; and

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

6 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

7 SEC. 10. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.

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

9 percent of—

10 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

11 construction budget for the planning and construc12 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

13 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in14 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

15 engineering cost indices after March 1, 1995.

16 SEC. 11. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.

17 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary may provide

18 construction oversight to the water supply system for

19 areas of the water supply system.

20 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

21 amount of funds used by the Secretary for planning and

22 construction of the water supply system may not exceed

23 an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in

24 the total project construction budget for the portion of the
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1 project to be constructed in Perkins County, South Da2 kota.

3 SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

4 There are authorized to be appropriated—

5 (1) $15,000,000 for the planning and construc6 tion of the water 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.

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