I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6331 
To amend the environmental quality incentives program of the Department 
of Agriculture to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to provide assist-
ance to active agricultural producers for the construction of reservoirs 
as part of their agricultural operations for the storage of water, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 15, 2006 
Mr. EVERETT (for himself, Mr. BONNER, and Mr. ROGERS of Alabama) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture 
A BILL 
To amend the environmental quality incentives program of 
the Department of Agriculture to authorize the Secretary 
of Agriculture to provide assistance to active agricultural 
producers for the construction of reservoirs as part of 
their agricultural operations for the storage of water, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. GROUND AND SURFACE WATER CONSERVA-
TION ASSISTANCE UNDER ENVIRONMENTAL 
QUALITY INCENTIVES PROGRAM. 
(a) ASSISTANCE
FOR CONSTRUCTION
OF WATER 
RESERVOIRS.—Subsection (a)(4) of section 1240I of the 
Food Security Act of 1985 (16 U.S.C. 3839aa–9) is 
amended by striking ‘‘water banking’’ inserting ‘‘the con-
struction of reservoirs to be used for water storage in agri-
cultural operations, water banking,’’. 
(b) SPECIAL RULES
FOR PROVISION
OF ASSIST-
ANCE.—Such section is further amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES FOR ASSISTANCE FOR RES-
ERVOIR CONSTRUCTION.— 
‘‘(1) 
WAIVER
OF
IRRIGATION
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—The Secretary may not require, as a pre-
condition for making cost-sharing or incentive pay-
ments available to a producer under this section for 
the construction of a water reservoir, that the agri-
cultural operations of the producer utilize irrigation 
in the production of a commodity. 
‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE.—In 
making cost-sharing or incentive payments to a pro-
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ducer under this section for the construction of a 
water reservoir, the Secretary may not pay more 
than 50 percent of the cost of constructing the res-
ervoir. 
‘‘(3) CONSIDERATIONS
OF
COST-EFFECTIVE-
NESS.—If the Secretary determines that two or 
more applications for assistance for the construction 
of a water reservoir are comparable in achieving the 
conservation purposes of this section, the Secretary 
shall assign a higher priority to those applications 
for reservoir construction projects that would be the 
most cost-effective in achieving the conservation pur-
poses of this section. In determining the cost-effec-
tiveness of a proposed project, the Secretary shall 
consider both the cost per square foot acre of water 
and the cost per acre of irrigated land. 
‘‘(4) REQUIRED USE IN AGRICULTURAL OPER-
ATIONS.—As a condition on the receipt of assistance 
under this section for the construction of a water 
reservoir, the producer shall agree to maintain the 
lands to be served by the reservoir in agricultural 
production for at least five years after the date of 
completion of the reservoir. 
‘‘(5) REPAYMENT.—If the Secretary deter-
mines, on the record after an opportunity for a hear-
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ing, that a producer has failed to comply with the 
agreement required by paragraph (4), the Secretary 
shall require the producer to repay to the Secretary 
all or a part of the assistance provided for the con-
struction of the reservoir. The repayment amount re-
quired shall be based on the severity and duration 
of the violation.’’. 
Æ 
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