[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5297 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5297

To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to provide cost share assistance for the 
construction of reservoir structures for the storage of water in rural 
                     areas, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2000

 Mr. Everett introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act to authorize 
 the Secretary of Agriculture to provide cost share assistance for the 
construction of reservoir structures for the storage of water in rural 
                     areas, 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. COST SHARE ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL WATER STORAGE AND SUPPLY.

    (a) Assistance Authorized.--The Watershed Protection and Flood 
Prevention Act is amended by inserting after section 3A (16 U.S.C. 
1003a) the following new section:

``SEC. 3B. COST SHARE ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL WATER STORAGE AND SUPPLY.

    ``(a) Reservoir Structures and Transmission Lines.--The Secretary 
may provide cost share assistance to project sponsors to enable such 
sponsors to construct--
            ``(1) reservoir structures for the storage of water; and
            ``(2) main water transmission lines to increase the water 
        supply in a rural area.
    ``(b) Eligibility.--In order to qualify for assistance under this 
section, a project must be designed to increase the supply of water in 
a rural area that is experiencing a severe problem with the quality or 
quantity of water.
    ``(c) Amount of Assistance; Limitation.--The amount of the 
assistance provided by the Secretary for a project under this section 
shall cover at least 50 percent of the project costs, except that rural 
water supply costs under subsection (a)(2) may not exceed 50 percent of 
total project costs.
    ``(d) Rural Area Defined.--In this section, the term `rural area' 
means any area that is not within the outer boundary of any city having 
a population of 65,000 or more, according to the most recent decennial 
census of the United States.''.
    (b) Definition of Works of Improvement.--Section 2 of the Watershed 
Protection and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1002) is amended by 
striking ``Each project must contain'' and all that follows through 
``benefits of the project.''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 3A of the Watershed Protection 
and Flood Prevention Act (16 U.S.C. 1003a) is amended by inserting 
``wetland or floodplain conservation easements'' before the period at 
the end of the section heading.
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