[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11814-S11816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             LEWIS AND CLARK RURAL WATER SYSTEM ACT OF 1998

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill (S. 777) to authorize the 
construction of the Lewis and Clark Water System and to authorize 
assistance to Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, Inc., a nonprofit 
corporation, for the planning and construction of the water supply 
system, and for other purposes, which had been reported from the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, with amendments, as follows:
  (The parts of the bill intended to be stricken are shown in boldface 
brackets and the parts of the bill intended to be inserted are shown in 
italic.)

[[Page S11815]]

                                 S. 777

       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 ``Lewis and Clark Rural Water 
     System Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Environmental enhancement.--The term ``environmental 
     enhancement'' means the wetland and wildlife enhancement 
     activities that are carried out substantially in accordance 
     with the environmental enhancement component of the 
     feasibility study.
       (2) Environmental enhancement component.--The term 
     ``environmental enhancement component'' means the component 
     described in the report entitled ``Wetlands and Wildlife 
     Enhancement for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System'', 
     dated April 1991, that is included in the feasibility study.
       (3) Feasibility study.--The term ``feasibility study'' 
     means the study entitled ``Feasibility Level Evaluation of a 
     Missouri River Regional Water Supply for South Dakota, Iowa 
     and Minnesota'', dated September 1993, that includes a water 
     conservation plan, environmental report, and environmental 
     enhancement component.
       (4) Member entity.--The term ``member entity'' means a 
     rural water system or municipality that signed a Letter of 
     Commitment to participate in the water supply system.
       (5) Project construction budget.--The term ``project 
     construction budget'' means the description of the total 
     amount of funds needed for the construction of the water 
     supply system, as contained in the feasibility study.
       (6) 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, reservoirs, and pipelines up to the 
     point of delivery of water by the water supply system to each 
     member entity that distributes water at retail to individual 
     users.
       [(7) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.]
       (7) System funding agencies.--The term ``System Funding 
     Agencies'' means the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
     Department of Agriculture.
       (8) Water supply system.--The term ``water supply system'' 
     means the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, Inc., a 
     nonprofit corporation established and operated substantially 
     in accordance with the feasibility study.

     SEC. 3. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM.

       (a) In General.--The [Secretary] System Funding Agencies 
     shall make grants to the water supply system for 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, environmental enhancement, mitigation of wetland 
     areas, and water conservation in--
       (1) Lake County, McCook County, Minnehaha County, Turner 
     County, Lincoln County, Clay County, and Union County, in 
     southeastern South Dakota;
       (2) Rock County and Nobles County, in southwestern 
     Minnesota; and
       (3) Lyon County, Sioux County, Osceola County, O'Brien 
     County, Dickinson County, and Clay County, in northwestern 
     Iowa.
       (c) Amount of Grants.--Grants made available under 
     subsection (a) to the water supply system shall not exceed 
     the amount of funds authorized under section 10.
       (d) Limitation on Availability of Construction Funds.--The 
     [Secretary] System Funding Agencies 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;
       (2) a final engineering report is prepared and submitted to 
     Congress not less than 90 days before the commencement of 
     construction of the water supply system; and
       (3) a water conservation program is developed and 
     implemented.

     SEC. 4. FEDERAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE ENVIRONMENTAL ENHANCEMENT 
                   COMPONENT.

       (a) Initial Development.--The [Secretary] System Funding 
     Agencies shall make grants and other funds available to the 
     water supply system and other private, State, and Federal 
     entities, for the initial development of the environmental 
     enhancement component.
       (b) Nonreimbursement.--Funds provided under subsection (a) 
     shall be nonreimbursable and nonreturnable.

     SEC. 5. WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

       (a) In General.--The water supply system shall establish a 
     water conservation program that ensures that users of water 
     from the water supply system use the best practicable 
     technology and management techniques to conserve water use.
       (b) Requirements.--The water conservation programs shall 
     include--
       (1) low consumption performance standards for all newly 
     installed plumbing fixtures;
       (2) leak detection and repair programs;
       (3) rate schedules that do not include declining block rate 
     schedules for municipal households and special water users 
     (as defined in the feasibility study);
       (4) public education programs and technical assistance to 
     member entities; and
       (5) coordinated operation among each rural water system, 
     and each water supply facility in existence on the date of 
     enactment of this Act, in the service area of the system.
       (c) Review and Revision.--The programs described in 
     subsection (b) shall contain provisions for periodic review 
     and revision, in cooperation with the [Secretary.] Secretary 
     of the Interior.

     SEC. 6. MITIGATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE LOSSES.

       Mitigation for 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 feasibility study.

     SEC. 7. USE OF PICK-SLOAN POWER.

       (a) In General.--From power designated for future 
     irrigation and drainage pumping for the Pick-Sloan Missouri 
     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 on May 1 and ending 
     on 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 the 
     entire electric service requirements of the system, 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 is 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 water supply system;

     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. 8. NO LIMITATION ON WATER PROJECTS IN STATES.

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

     SEC. 9. 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, governing 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. 10. COST SHARING.

       (a) Federal Cost Share.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     [Secretary] System Funding Agencies shall provide funds equal 
     to 80 percent of--
       (A) the amount allocated in the total project construction 
     budget for planning and construction of the water supply 
     system under section 3;
       (B) such amounts as are necessary to defray increases in 
     the budget for planning and construction of the water supply 
     system under section 3; and
       (C) such amounts as are necessary to defray increases in 
     development costs reflected in appropriate engineering cost 
     indices after September 1, 1993.
       (2) Sioux falls.--The [Secretary] System Funding Agencies 
     shall provide funds for the city of Sioux Falls, South 
     Dakota, in an amount equal to 50 percent of the incremental 
     cost to the city of participation in the project.
       (b) Non-Federal Cost Share.--
       (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     non-Federal share of the costs allocated to the water supply 
     system shall be 20 percent of the amounts described in 
     subsection (a)(1).
       (2) Sioux falls.--The non-Federal cost-share for the city 
     of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, shall be 50 percent of the 
     incremental cost to the city of participation in the project.

     SEC. 11. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.

       (a) Authorization.--The Secretary of the Interior may allow 
     the Director of the Bureau of Reclamation to provide project 
     construction oversight to the water supply system

[[Page S11816]]

     and environmental enhancement component for the service area 
     of the water supply system described in section 3(b).
       (b) Project Oversight Administration.--The amount of funds 
     used by the Director of the Bureau of Reclamation for 
     [planning and construction] oversight and other technical 
     assistance of the water supply system shall not exceed the 
     amount that is equal to 1 percent of the amount provided in 
     the total project construction budget for the entire project 
     construction period.

     SEC. 12. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
     Act $226,320,000, of which not less than $8,487,000 shall be 
     used for the initial development of the environmental 
     enhancement component under section 4, to remain available 
     until expended.

  The committee amendments were agreed to.
  The bill (S. 777), as amended, was considered read the third time and 
passed, as follows:
  [The bill was not available for printing. It will appear in a future 
issue of the Record.]

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