[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 617 Referred in House (RFH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                  S. 617


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 5, 1994

   Referred jointly to the Committees on Natural Resources, Science, 
       Space, and Technology, and Public Works and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To authorize research into the desalinization of water and water reuse 
and to authorize a program for States, cities, or any qualifying agency 
   which desires to own and operate a desalinization or water reuse 
                  facility to develop such facilities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Desalinization Research and 
Development Act of 1994''.

SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

    In view of the increasing shortage of usable surface and ground 
water in many parts of the United States and the world, it is the 
policy of the United States to perform research to develop low-cost 
alternatives in the desalinization and reuse of saline or biologically 
impaired water to provide water of a quality suitable for environmental 
enhancement, agricultural, industrial, municipal, and other beneficial 
consumptive or nonconsumptive uses, and to provide, through cooperative 
activities with local sponsors, desalinization and water reuse 
processes or facilities which provide proof-of-concept demonstrations 
of advanced technologies for the purpose of developing and conserving 
the water resources of this Nation and the world.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``desalinization'' means the use of any 
        process or technique for the removal and, when feasible, 
        adaptation to beneficial use, of organic and inorganic elements 
        and compounds from saline or biologically impaired waters, by 
        itself or in conjunction with other processes;
            (2) the term ``saline water'' means sea water, brackish 
        water, and other mineralized or chemically impaired water;
            (3) the term ``United States'' means the States of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, and the territories and possessions of the United 
        States;
            (4) the term ``usable water'' means water of a high quality 
        suitable for environmental enhancement, agricultural, 
        industrial, municipal, and other beneficial consumptive or 
        nonconsumptive uses; and
            (5) the term ``sponsor'' means any local, State, or 
        interstate agency responsible for the sale and delivery of 
        usable water that has the legal and financial authority and 
        capability to provide the financial and real property 
        requirements needed for a desalinization facility.

SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PROGRAM.

    (a) Research and Development.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
have primary program management and oversight for conduct of the 
research and development under this Act and shall coordinate these 
activities with the Secretary of the Army.
    (b) Desalinization Development Program.--The Secretary of the 
Interior shall jointly execute the Desalinization Development Program 
established under section 6 with the Secretary of the Army.

SEC. 5. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

    (a) In General.--In order to gain basic knowledge concerning the 
most efficient means by which usable water can be produced from saline 
water, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army 
shall conduct a basic research and development program as established 
by this Act.
    (b) Contents of Program.--For the basic research and development 
program, the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army 
shall--
            (1) conduct, encourage, and promote fundamental scientific 
        research and basic studies to develop the best and most 
        economical processes and methods for converting saline water 
        into usable water through research grants and contracts--
                    (A) to conduct research and technical development 
                work,
                    (B) to make studies in order to ascertain the 
                optimum mix of investment and operating costs,
                    (C) to determine the best designs for different 
                conditions of operation, and
                    (D) to investigate increasing the economic 
                efficiency of desalinization processes by using them as 
                dual-purpose co-facilities with other processes 
                involving the use of water;
            (2) engage, by competitive or noncompetitive contract or 
        any other means, necessary personnel, industrial or engineering 
        firms, Federal laboratories and other facilities, and 
        educational institutions suitable to conduct research or other 
        work;
            (3) study methods for the recovery of byproducts resulting 
        from the desalinization of water to offset the costs of 
        treatment and to reduce the environmental impact from those 
        byproducts; and
            (4) prepare a management plan for conduct of the research 
        and development program established under this section.

SEC. 6. DESALINIZATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

    (a) Program Responsibility.--The Secretary of the Interior shall 
have program responsibility for the Desalinization Development Program 
established under this section (referred to in this section as the 
``Desalinization Development Program'').
    (b) Design and Construction.--The Secretary of the Army and the 
Secretary of the Interior both shall have authority to design and 
construct facilities under the Desalinization Development Program.
    (c) Selection of Desalinization Development Facilities.--Candidate 
facilities shall be submitted by the sponsor directly to the Secretary 
of the Army or the Secretary of the Interior. Sponsors shall submit 
their application for the design and construction of a facility and 
certification that they can provide the required cost sharing. 
Facilities shall be selected subject to availability of Federal funds.
    (d) Cost Sharing.--
            (1) Initial cost.--The initial cost of a facility shall 
        include--
                    (A) design cost,
                    (B) construction cost,
                    (C) lands, easements, and rights-of-way costs, and
                    (D) relocation costs.
            (2) General rule.--The sponsor for a facility under the 
        Desalinization Development Program shall pay, during 
        construction, at least 25 percent of the initial cost of the 
        facility, including providing all lands, easements, and rights-
        of-way and performing all related necessary relocations.
            (3) 25-percent minimum contribution.--If the value of the 
        contributions required under paragraph (2) of this subsection 
        is less than 25 percent of the initial cost of the facility, 
        the sponsor shall pay during construction of the facility such 
        additional amounts as are necessary so that the total 
        contribution of the sponsor is equal to 25 percent of the 
        initial cost of the facility.
            (4) 50-percent maximum.--The sponsor share under paragraph 
        (2) shall not exceed 50 percent of the initial cost of the 
        facility.
    (e) Maximum Initial Cost.--The initial cost of a facility under 
subsection (d)(1) may not exceed $10,000,000.
    (f) Operation and Maintenance.--Operation, maintenance, repair, and 
rehabilitation of facilities shall be the responsibility of the 
sponsor.
    (g) Revenue.--All revenue generated from the sale of usable water 
from the facilities shall be retained by the sponsors.

SEC. 7. PARTICIPATION BY INTERESTED AGENCIES AND OTHER PERSONS.

    (a) Coordination With Other Agencies.--
            (1) In general.--Research and development activities 
        undertaken by the Secretary of the Interior under this Act 
        shall be coordinated or conducted jointly, as appropriate--
                    (A) with the Department of Commerce, specifically 
                with respect to marketing and international 
                competition, and
                    (B) with--
                            (i) the Departments of Defense, 
                        Agriculture, State, Health and Human Services, 
                        and Energy,
                            (ii) the Environmental Protection Agency,
                            (iii) the Agency for International 
                        Development, and
                            (iv) other concerned Government and private 
                        entities.
            (2) Other agencies.--Other interested agencies may furnish 
        appropriate resources to the Secretary of the Interior to 
        further the activities in which they are interested.
    (b) Availability of Research.--All research sponsored or funded 
under authority of this Act shall be provided in such manner that 
information, products, processes, and other developments resulting from 
Federal expenditures or authorities shall (with exceptions necessary 
for national defense and the protection of patent rights) be available 
to the general public consistent with this Act.
    (c) Relationship to Antitrust Laws.--Section 10 of the Federal 
Nonnuclear Energy Research and Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5909) 
shall apply to the activities of individuals, corporations, and other 
business organizations in connection with grants and contracts made by 
the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to this Act.

SEC. 8. TECHNICAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANCE.

    The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to accept technical and 
administrative assistance from a State, public, or private agency in 
connection with research and development activities relating to 
desalinization of water and may enter into contracts or agreements 
stating the purpose for which the assistance is contributed and, in 
appropriate circumstances, providing for the sharing of costs between 
the Secretary of the Interior and such agency.

SEC. 9. MISCELLANEOUS AUTHORITIES.

    In carrying out this Act, the Secretary of the Interior or the 
Secretary of the Army, as appropriate, may--
            (1) make grants to educational and scientific institutions;
            (2) contract with educational and scientific institutions 
        and engineering and industrial firms;
            (3) engage, by competition or noncompetitive contract or 
        any other means, necessary personnel, industrial and 
        engineering firms and educational institutions;
            (4) use the facilities and personnel of Federal, State, 
        municipal, and private scientific laboratories;
            (5) contract for or establish and operate facilities and 
        tests to conduct research, testing, and development necessary 
        for the purposes of this Act;
            (6) acquire processes, data, inventions, patent 
        applications, patents, licenses, lands, interests in lands and 
        water, facilities, and other property by purchase, license, 
        lease, or donation;
            (7) assemble and maintain domestic and foreign scientific 
        literature and issue pertinent bibliographical data;
            (8) conduct inspections and evaluations of domestic and 
        foreign facilities and cooperate and participate in their 
        development;
            (9) conduct and participate in regional, national, and 
        international conferences relating to the desalinization of 
        water;
            (10) coordinate, correlate, and publish information which 
        will advance the development of the desalinization of water; 
        and
            (11) cooperate with Federal, State, and municipal 
        departments, agencies and instrumentalities, and with private 
        persons, firms, educational institutions, and other 
        organizations, including foreign governments, departments, 
        agencies, companies, and instrumentalities, in effectuating the 
        purposes of this Act.

SEC. 10. DESALINIZATION CONFERENCE.

    (a) Establishment.--The President shall instruct the Agency for 
International Development to sponsor an international desalinization 
conference within twelve months following the date of the enactment of 
this Act. Participants in such conference should include scientists, 
private industry experts, desalinization experts and operators, 
government officials from the nations that use and conduct research on 
desalinization, and those from nations that could benefit from low-cost 
desalinization technology, particularly in the developing world, and 
international financial institutions.
    (b) Purpose.--The conference established in subsection (a) shall 
explore promising new technologies and methods to make affordable 
desalinization a reality in the near term, and shall further propose a 
research agenda and a plan of action to guide longer-term development 
of practical desalinization applications.
    (c) Funding.--Funding for the international desalinization 
conference may come from operating or program funds of the Agency for 
International Development. The Agency for International Development 
shall encourage financial and other support from other nations, 
including those that have desalinization technology and those that 
might benefit from it.

SEC. 11. REPORTS.

    Prior to the expiration of the twelve-month period following the 
date of enactment of this Act, and each twelve-month period thereafter, 
the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Secretary of 
the Army, shall prepare a report to the President and Congress 
concerning the administration of this Act. Such report shall include 
the actions taken by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
the Army during the calendar year preceding the calendar year in which 
such report is filed, and shall include actions planned for the next 
following calendar year.

SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Research and Development.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out section 5 $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, 
$10,000,000 for fiscal year 1996, and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of fiscal years 1997 through 1999.
    (b) Desalinization Development Program.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out section 6 such sums as may be necessary, up 
to a total of $50,000,000, for fiscal years 1995 through 1999. Funds 
made available under this subsection shall be made available in equal 
amounts to the Department of the Interior and the civil works program 
of the Army Corps of Engineers.

            Passed the Senate August 4 (legislative day, July 20), 
      1994.

            Attest:

                                                MARTHA S. POPE,

                                                             Secretary.