[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 744 Referred in House (RFH)]

  2d Session
                                 S. 744


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 8, 1998

                 Referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
 To authorize the construction of the Fall River Water Users District 
Rural Water System and authorize financial assistance to the Fall River 
  Water Users District, a nonprofit corporation, in the planning and 
    construction of the water supply system, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Fall River Water Users District 
Rural Water System Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) there are insufficient water supplies of reasonable 
        quality available to the members of the Fall River Water Users 
        District Rural Water System located in Fall River County, South 
        Dakota, and the water supplies that are available are of poor 
        quality and do not meet minimum health and safety standards, 
        thereby posing a threat to public health and safety;
            (2) past cycles of severe drought in the southeastern area 
        of Fall River County have left residents without a satisfactory 
        water supply, and, during 1990, many home owners and ranchers 
        were forced to haul water to sustain their water needs;
            (3) because of the poor quality of water supplies, most 
        members of the Fall River Water Users District are forced to 
        either haul bottled water for human consumption or use 
        distillers;
            (4) the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water System 
        has been recognized by the State of South Dakota; and
            (5) the best available, reliable, and safe rural and 
        municipal water supply to serve the needs of the Fall River 
        Water Users District Rural Water System members consists of a 
        Madison Aquifer well, 3 separate water storage reservoirs, 3 
        pumping stations, and approximately 200 miles of pipeline.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to ensure a safe and adequate municipal, rural, and 
        industrial water supply for the members of the Fall River Water 
        Users District Rural Water System in Fall River County, South 
        Dakota;
            (2) to assist the members of the Fall River Water Users 
        District in developing safe and adequate municipal, rural, and 
        industrial water supplies; and
            (3) to promote the implementation of water conservation 
        programs by the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water 
        System.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Engineering report.--The term ``engineering report'' 
        means the study entitled ``Supplemental Preliminary Engineering 
        Report for Fall River Water Users District'' published in 
        August 1995.
            (2) Project construction budget.--The term ``project 
        construction budget'' means the description of the total amount 
        of funds that are needed for the construction of the water 
        supply system, as described in the engineering report.
            (3) Pumping and incidental operational requirements.--The 
        term ``pumping and incidental operational requirements'' means 
        all power requirements that are incidental to the operation of 
        intake facilities, pumping stations, water treatment 
        facilities, cooling facilities, reservoirs, and pipelines to 
        the point of delivery of water by the Fall River Water Users 
        District Rural Water System to each entity that distributes 
        water at retail to individual users.
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.
            (5) Water supply system.--The term ``water supply system'' 
        means the Fall River Water Users District Rural Water System, a 
        nonprofit corporation, established and operated substantially 
        in accordance with the engineering report.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall make grants to the water 
supply system for the Federal share of the costs of the planning and 
construction of the water supply system.
    (b) Service Area.--The water supply system shall provide for safe 
and adequate municipal, rural, and industrial water supplies, 
mitigation of wetlands areas, and water conservation within the 
boundaries of the Fall River Water Users District, described as 
follows: bounded on the north by the Angostura Reservoir, the Cheyenne 
River, and the line between Fall River and Custer Counties, bounded on 
the east by the line between Fall River and Shannon Counties, bounded 
on the south by the line between South Dakota and Nebraska, and bounded 
on the west by the Igloo-Provo Water Project District.
    (c) Amount of Grants.--Grants made available under subsection (a) 
to the water supply system shall not exceed the Federal share under 
section 9.
    (d) Limitation on Availability of Construction Funds.--The 
Secretary shall not obligate funds for the construction of the water 
supply system until--
            (1) the requirements of the National Environmental Policy 
        Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) are met with respect to 
        the water supply system; and
            (2) a final engineering report and plan for a water 
        conservation program have been prepared and submitted to 
        Congress for a period of not less than 90 days before the 
        commencement of construction of the system.

SEC. 5. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

    Mitigation of fish and wildlife losses incurred as a result of the 
construction and operation of the water supply system shall be on an 
acre-for-acre basis, based on ecological equivalency, concurrent with 
project construction, as provided in the engineering report.

SEC. 6. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

    (a) In General.--From power designated for future irrigation and 
drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Missouri River Basin Program, the 
Western Area Power Administration shall make available the capacity and 
energy required to meet the pumping and incidental operational 
requirements of the water supply system during the period beginning May 
1 and ending October 31 of each year.
    (b) Conditions.--The capacity and energy described in subsection 
(a) shall be made available on the following conditions:
            (1) The water supply system shall be operated on a not-for-
        profit basis.
            (2) The water supply system shall contract to purchase its 
        entire electric service requirements, including the capacity 
        and energy made available under subsection (a), from a 
        qualified preference power supplier that itself purchases power 
        from the Western Area Power Administration.
            (3) The rate schedule applicable to the capacity and energy 
        made available under subsection (a) shall be the firm power 
        rate schedule of the Pick-Sloan Eastern Division of the Western 
        Area Power Administration in effect when the power is delivered 
        by the Administration.
            (4) It shall be agreed by contract among--
                    (A) the Western Area Power Administration;
                    (B) the power supplier with which the water supply 
                system contracts under paragraph (2);
                    (C) the power supplier of the entity described in 
                subparagraph (B); and
                    (D) the Fall River Water Users District;
         that in the case of the capacity and energy made available 
        under subsection (a), the benefit of the rate schedule 
        described in paragraph (3) shall be passed through to the water 
        supply system, except that the power supplier of the water 
        supply system shall not be precluded from including, in the 
        charges of the supplier to the water system for the electric 
        service, the other usual and customary charges of the supplier.

SEC. 7. NO LIMITATION ON WATER PROJECTS IN STATE.

    This Act does not limit the authorization for water projects in 
South Dakota under law in effect on or after the date of enactment of 
this Act.

SEC. 8. WATER RIGHTS.

    Nothing in this Act--
            (1) invalidates or preempts State water law or an 
        interstate compact governing water;
            (2) alters the rights of any State to any appropriated 
        share of the waters of any body of surface or ground water, 
        whether determined by past or future interstate compacts or by 
        past or future legislative or final judicial allocations;
            (3) preempts or modifies any Federal or State law, or 
        interstate compact, dealing with water quality or disposal; or
            (4) confers on any non-Federal entity the ability to 
        exercise any Federal right to the waters of any stream or to 
        any ground water resource.

SEC. 9. FEDERAL SHARE.

    The Federal share under section 4 shall be 70 percent of--
            (1) the amount allocated in the total project construction 
        budget for the planning and construction of the water supply 
        system under section 4; and
            (2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in 
        development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
        indices after August 1, 1995.

SEC. 10. NON-FEDERAL SHARE.

    The non-Federal share under section 4 shall be 30 percent of--
            (1) the amount allocated in the total project construction 
        budget for the planning and construction of the water supply 
        system under section 4; and
            (2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in 
        development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
        indices after August 1, 1995.

SEC. 11. CONSTRUCTION OVERSIGHT.

    (a) Authorization.--The Secretary of the Interior, acting through 
the Director of the Bureau of Reclamation may provide construction 
oversight to the water supply system for areas of the water supply 
system.
    (b) Project Oversight Administration.--The amount of funds used by 
the Secretary for planning and construction of the water supply system 
may not exceed an amount equal to 3 percent of the amount provided in 
the total project construction budget for the portion of the project to 
be constructed in Fall River County, South Dakota.

SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated--
            (1) $3,600,000 for the planning and construction of the 
        water system under section 4; and
            (2) such sums as are necessary to defray increases in 
        development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
        indices after August 1, 1995.

            Passed the Senate October 7 (legislative day, October 2), 
      1998.

            Attest:

                                                    GARY SISCO,

                                                             Secretary.