[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 120 (Thursday, September 5, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         FORT PECK RURAL COUNTY WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM ACT OF 1996

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. PAT WILLIAMS

                               of montana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 4, 1996

  Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Speaker, today there are folks who are forced 
several times each week to travel miles to fill cistern tanks and 
barrels, carrying it back home so that they have pure drinking water.
  This situation is not somewhere in a third country, but remarkably in 
Valley County in northeast Montana. Because groundwater supplies in 
this part of Montana are not potable, the residents of these 
communities drive for hours each week, both summer and winter, to 
deliver this water to hundreds of people.
  The irony of this situation is these folks live adjacent to one of 
the largest bodies of water ever developed by the Federal Government in 
the West, the Ft. Peck Reservoir which stores over 18 million acre feet 
of water.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation will authorize the development of a 
rural municipal water system for residents of the Ft. Peck Rural Water 
District. This much needed project will tap into Ft. Peck Reservoir to 
construct a safe and reliable drinking water system for both municipal 
and agricultural purposes. When this project is completed, it will also 
enable this area of Montana to attract economic development which up to 
now has been stifled due to the unavailability of water.
  The Bureau of Reclamation has completed a needs assessment and 
feasibility study on this project and this legislation proposes a 
partnership arrangement where State and local interests will contribute 
25 percent of the cost toward its completion. The feasibility study 
estimates that the total Federal expenditure will be less than $6 
million.
  Mr. Speaker, if we can afford to spend much more than this to help 
undeveloped nations all around the world to develop safe supplies of 
drinking water, the Federal Government can certainly afford to do this 
for folks living in Montana.

                          ____________________