I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3985

To authorize the construction of the Fall River Water Users District Rural

Water System and authorize the appropriation of Federal dollars to

assist the Fall River Water Users District, a nonprofit corporation,

in the planning and construction of the water supply system.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

AUGUST 2, 1996

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was

referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To authorize the construction of the Fall River Water Users

District Rural Water System and authorize the appropriation of Federal dollars to assist the Fall River Water

Users District, a nonprofit corporation, in the planning

and construction of the water supply system.

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 ‘‘Fall River Water Users

5 District Rural Water System Act of 1996’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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1 (1) there are insufficient water supplies of rea2 sonable quality available to the members of the Fall

3 River Water Users District Rural Water System lo4 cated in Fall River County, South Dakota, and the

5 water supplies that are available are of poor quality

6 and do not meet the minimum health and safety

7 standards, thereby posing a threat to public health

8 and safety;

9 (2) past cycles of severe drought in the south10 eastern area of Fall River county have left local resi11 dents without a satisfactory water supply and during

12 1990, many home owners and ranchers were forced

13 to haul water to sustain their water needs;

14 (3) most members of the Fall River Water

15 Users District are forced to either haul bottled water

16 for human consumption or use distillers due to the

17 poor quality of water supplies available;

18 (4) the Fall River Water Users District Rural

19 Water System has been recognized by the State of

20 South Dakota; and

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

22 and municipal water supply to serve the needs of the

23 Fall River Water Users District Rural Water Sys24 tem members consists of a Madison Aquifer well, 3
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1 separate water storage reservoirs, 3 pumping sta2 tions, and approximately 200 miles of pipeline.

3 (b) PURPOSES.—The Congress declares that the pur4 poses of sections 1 through 13 are to—

5 (1) ensure a safe and adequate municipal,

6 rural, and industrial water supply for the members

7 of the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water

8 System in Fall River County, South Dakota;

9 (2) assist the citizens of the Fall River Water

10 Users District to develop safe and adequate munici11 pal, rural, and industrial water supplies; and

12 (3) promote the implementation of water con13 servation programs by the Fall River Water Users

14 District Rural Water System.

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

16 As used in this Act (unless the context clearly re17 quires otherwise):

18 (1) ENGINEERING REPORT.—The term ‘‘engi19 neering report’’ means the study entitled ‘‘Supple20 mental Preliminary Engineering Report for Fall

21 River Water Users District’’ in August 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 contained 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 up

9 to the point of delivery of water by the Fall River

10 Water Users District Rural Water System to each

11 entity that distributes water at retail to individual

12 users.

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

14 the Secretary of the Interior.

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

16 supply system’’ means the Fall River Water Users

17 District Rural Water System that is established and

18 operated substantially in accordance with the fea19 sibility study.

20 SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE WATER SUPPLY

21 SYSTEM.

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

23 make grants to the Fall River Water Users District Rural

24 Water System, a nonprofit corporation, for the planning

25 and construction of the water supply system.
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1 (b) SERVICE AREA.—The water supply system shall

2 provide for safe and adequate municipal, rural, and indus3 trial water supplies, mitigation of wetlands areas; and

4 water conservation within the boundaries of the Fall River

5 Water Users District, described as follows: bounded on the

6 north by the Angostura Reservoir, the Cheyenne River,

7 and the Fall River/Custer County line, bounded on the

8 east by the Fall River/Shannon County line, bounded on

9 the south by the South Dakota/Nebraska State line, and

10 bounded on the west by the previously established Igloo11 Provo Water Project District.

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

13 under subsection (a) to the Fall River Water Users Dis14 trict Rural Water System shall not exceed the amount au15 thorized under section 10.

16 (d) LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF CONSTRUC17 TION FUNDS.—The Secretary shall not obligate funds for

18 the construction of the water supply system until—

19 (1) the requirements of the National Environ20 mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.)

21 have been met;

22 (2) a final engineering report has been prepared

23 and submitted to the Congress for a period of not

24 less than 90 days before the commencement of con25 struction of the system; and
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1 (3) a water conservation program has been de2 veloped and implemented.

3 SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION.

4 (a) PURPOSE.—The water conservation program re5 quired under this section 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 pro10 grams 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 and

16 special water users (as defined in the feasibility

17 study);

18 (4) public education programs; and

19 (5) coordinated operation between the Fall

20 River Water Users District Rural Water System and

21 any preexisting water supply facilities within its

22 service area.

23 (c) REVIEW AND REVISION.—The programs de24 scribed in subsection (b) shall contain provisions for peri25 odic review and revision, in cooperation with the Secretary.
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1 SEC. 6. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

2 Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a

3 result of the construction and operation of the Fall River

4 Water Users District Rural Water System shall be on an

5 acre-for-acre basis, based on ecological equivalency, con6 current with project construction, as provided in the fea7 sibility study.

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

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

10 irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Mis11 souri River Basin Program, the Western Area Power Ad12 ministration shall make available the capacity and energy

13 required to meet the pumping and incidental operational

14 requirements of the water supply system during the period

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

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

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

18 conditions:

19 (1) The water supply system shall be operated

20 on a not-for-profit basis.

21 (2) The water supply system shall contract to

22 purchase its entire electric service requirements, in23 cluding the capacity and energy made available

24 under subsection (a), from a qualified preference

25 power supplier that itself purchases power from the

26 Western Area Power Administration.
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1 (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity

2 and energy made available under subsection (a) shall

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

4 Eastern Division of the Western Area Power Admin5 istration in effect when the power is delivered by the

6 Administration.

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

8 (A) the Western Area Power Administra9 tion;

10 (B) the power supplier with which the

11 water supply system contracts under paragraph

12 (2);

13 (C) the power supplier of the entity de14 scribed in subparagraph (B); and

15 (D) the Fall River Water Users District,

16 that in the case of the capacity and energy made

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

18 rate schedule described in paragraph (3) shall be

19 passed through to the water supply system, except

20 that the power supplier of the water supply system

21 shall not be precluded from including, in the charges

22 of the supplier to the water system for the electric

23 service, the other usual and customary charges of

24 the supplier.
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1 SEC. 8. NO LIMITATION ON WATER PROJECTS IN STATE.

2 This Act shall not limit the authorization for water

3 projects in South Dakota and under law in effect on or

4 after the date of enactment of this Act.

5 SEC. 9. WATER RIGHTS.

6 Nothing in this Act—

7 (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or

8 an interstate compact governing water;

9 (2) alters the rights of any State to any appro10 priated share of the waters of any body of surface

11 or ground water, whether determined by past or fu12 ture interstate compacts or by past or future legisla13 tive or final judicial allocations;

14 (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State

15 law, or interstate compact, dealing with water qual16 ity or disposal; or

17 (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the abil18 ity to exercise any Federal right to the waters of any

19 stream or to any ground water resource.

20 SEC. 10. FEDERAL COST SHARE.

21 The Secretary is authorized to provide funds equal

22 to 80 percent of—

23 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

24 construction budget for the planning and construc25 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and
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1 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in2 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

3 engineering cost indices after August 1, 1995.

4 SEC. 11. NON-FEDERAL COST SHARE.

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

6 water supply system shall be 20 percent of—

7 (1) the amount allocated in the total project

8 construction budget for the planning and construc9 tion of the water supply system under section 4; and

10 (2) such sums as are necessary to defray in11 creases in development costs reflected in appropriate

12 engineering cost indices after August 1, 1995.

13 SEC. 12. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION AUTHORIZATION.

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

15 allow the Bureau of Reclamation to provide construction

16 oversight to the water supply system for those areas of

17 the water supply system that are described in section 4(b).

18 (b) PROJECT OVERSIGHT ADMINISTRATION.—The

19 amount of funds used by the Bureau of Reclamation for

20 planning and construction of the water supply system may

21 not exceed an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount

22 provided in the total project construction budget for the

23 portion of the projects to be constructed in Fall River

24 County, South Dakota.
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1 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated $3,600,000

3 for the planning and construction of the water system

4 under section 4, plus such sums as are necessary to defray

5 increases in development costs reflected in appropriate en6 gineering cost indices after August 1, 1995.

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