II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 244

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Mr. JOHNSON (for himself, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. GRAMS, Mr. WELLSTONE, Mr.

GRASSLEY, and Mr. HARKIN) 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 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 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 In this Act:

3 (1) ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT.—The

4 term ‘‘environmental enhancement’’ means the wet5 land and wildlife enhancement activities that are

6 carried out substantially in accordance with the envi7 ronmental enhancement component of the feasibility

8 study.

9 (2) ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT COMPO10 NENT.—The term ‘‘environmental enhancement

11 component’’ means the component described in the

12 report entitled ‘‘Wetlands and Wildlife Enhancement

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

14 dated April 1991, that is included in the feasibility

15 study.

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

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

18 Evaluation of a Missouri River Regional Water Sup19 ply for South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota’’, dated

20 September 1993, that includes a water conservation

21 plan, environmental report, and environmental en22 hancement component.

23 (4) MEMBER ENTITY.—The term ‘‘member en24 tity’’ means a rural water system or municipality

25 that signed a Letter of Commitment to participate

26 in the water supply system.
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1 (5) PROJECT CONSTRUCTION BUDGET.—The

2 term ‘‘project construction budget’’ means the de3 scription of the total amount of funds needed for the

4 construction of the water supply system, as con5 tained in the feasibility study.

6 (6) PUMPING AND INCIDENTAL OPERATIONAL

7 REQUIREMENTS.—The term ‘‘pumping and inciden8 tal operational requirements’’ means all power re9 quirements that are incidental to the operation of in10 take facilities, pumping stations, water treatment fa11 cilities, reservoirs, and pipelines up to the point of

12 delivery of water by the water supply system to each

13 member entity that distributes water at retail to in14 dividual users.

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

16 the Secretary of the Interior.

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

18 supply system’’ means the Lewis and Clark Rural

19 Water System, Inc., a nonprofit corporation estab20 lished and operated substantially in accordance with

21 the feasibility study.
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1 SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE WATER SUPPLY

2 SYSTEM.

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

4 to the water supply system for the planning and construc5 tion of the water supply system.

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

7 provide for safe and adequate municipal, rural, and indus8 trial water supplies, environmental enhancement, mitiga9 tion of wetland areas, and water conservation in—

10 (1) Lake County, McCook County, Minnehaha

11 County, Turner County, Lincoln County, Clay Coun12 ty, and Union County, in southeastern South Da13 kota;

14 (2) Rock County and Nobles County, in south15 western Minnesota; and

16 (3) Lyon County, Sioux County, Osceola Coun17 ty, O’Brien County, Dickinson County, and Clay

18 County, in northwestern Iowa.

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

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

21 exceed the amount of funds authorized under section 10.

22 (d) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC23 TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for

24 the construction of the water supply system until—
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1 (1) the requirements of the National Environ2 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)

3 are met;

4 (2) a final engineering report is prepared and

5 submitted to Congress not less than 90 days before

6 the commencement of construction of the water sup7 ply system; and

8 (3) a water conservation program is developed

9 and implemented.

10 SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL

11 ENHANCEMENT COMPONENT.

12 (a) INITIAL DEVELOPMENT.—The Secretary shall

13 make grants and other funds available to the water supply

14 system and other private, State, and Federal entities, for

15 the initial development of the environmental enhancement

16 component.

17 (b) NONREIMBURSEMENT.—Funds provided under

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

20 SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The water supply system shall es22 tablish a water conservation program that ensures that

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

24 practicable technology and management techniques to con25 serve water use.
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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—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.
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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 on May 1 and ending on October 31 of each

9 year.

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

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

12 conditions:

13 (1) The water supply system shall be operated

14 on a not-for-profit basis.

15 (2) The water supply system shall contract to

16 purchase the entire electric service requirements of

17 the system, including the capacity and energy made

18 available under subsection (a), from a qualified pref19 erence power supplier that itself purchases power

20 from the Western Area Power Administration.

21 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

22 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

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

24 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin25 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

26 Administration.
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1 (4) It is agreed by contract among—

2 (A) the Western Area Power Administra3 tion;

4 (B) the power supplier with which the

5 water supply system contracts under paragraph

6 (2);

7 (C) the power supplier of the entity de8 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

9 (D) the water supply system;

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 does not limit the authorization for water

21 projects in the States of South Dakota, Iowa, and Min22 nesota under law in effect on or after the date of enact23 ment of this Act.

24 SEC. 9. WATER RIGHTS.

25 Nothing in this Act—
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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. COST SHARING.

15 (a) FEDERAL COST SHARE.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para17 graph (2), the Secretary shall provide funds equal to

18 80 percent of—

19 (A) the amount allocated in the total

20 project construction budget for planning and

21 construction of the water supply system under

22 section 3;

23 (B) such amounts as are necessary to de24 fray increases in the budget for planning and
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1 construction of the water supply system under

2 section 3; and

3 (C) such amounts as are necessary to de4 fray increases in development costs reflected in

5 appropriate engineering cost indices after Sep6 tember 1, 1993.

7 (2) SIOUX FALLS.—The Secretary shall provide

8 funds for the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in

9 an amount equal to 50 percent of the incremental

10 cost to the city of participation in the project.

11 (b) NON-FEDERAL COST SHARE.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para13 graph (2), the non-Federal share of the costs allo14 cated to the water supply system shall be 20 percent

15 of the amounts described in subsection (a)(1).

16 (2) SIOUX FALLS.—The non-Federal cost-share

17 for the city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, shall be

18 50 percent of the incremental cost to the city of par19 ticipation in the project.

20 SEC. 11. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary may allow the

22 Director of the Bureau of Reclamation to provide project

23 construction oversight to the water supply system and en24 vironmental enhancement component for the service area

25 of the water supply system described in section 3(b).
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1 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

2 amount of funds used by the Director of the Bureau of

3 Reclamation for planning and construction of the water

4 supply system shall not exceed the amount that is equal

5 to 1 percent of the amount provided in the total project

6 construction budget for the entire project construction pe7 riod.

8 SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

9 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

10 this Act $226,320,000, of which not less than $8,487,000

11 shall be used for the initial development of the environ12 mental enhancement component under section 4, to re13 main available until expended.

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