[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 3 (Monday, January 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S239-S240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 200. A bill to require the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
through the Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Geological 
Survey, to conduct a study on groundwater resources in the State of 
Alaska, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.
  Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, in 2005 I first introduced a measure of 
benefit to my home State of Alaska, the Alaska Water Resources Act, for 
a number of reasons. While the bill easily passed the U.S. Senate in 
2005, it did not complete its journey to final passage, which is why I 
am reintroducing the bill today. The importance of water resource data 
collection to a State that has a resource-based economy cannot be 
overstated. Economic development is predicated on access to an adequate 
water supply, and in my State there is inadequate hydrologic data upon 
which to secure both economic development and the health and welfare of 
Alaskan citizens.
  Alaska is an amazing State from a hydrological viewpoint. It is home 
to more than 3 million lakes--only about 100 being larger than 10 
square miles--more than 12,000 rivers and uncounted thousands of 
streams, creeks and ponds. Together these water bodies hold about one-
third of all the fresh water found in the United States.
  Alaska is home to a number of large rivers. The Yukon, which 
originates in western Canada, runs 1,400 miles--discharging from 25,000 
cubic feet of water per second in early spring to more than 600,000 
cubic feet per second in May during the spring thaw. The Yukon drains 
roughly 330,000 square miles of Alaska and Canada, about one-third of 
the State. Besides the Yukon, Alaska is home to nine other major rivers 
and creeks all running more than 300 miles in length: the Porcupine, 
Koyukuk, Kuskokwim, Tanana, Innoko, Colville, Noatak, Kobuk and Birch 
Creek.
  Alaska residents from early spring to fall face substantial flood 
threats, from spring flooding caused by breakup and ice damming to 
fall's heavy rains, but the State has fewer than 100 stream gaging 
stations operated by the U.S. Geological Survey--Alaska having less 
than 10 percent of the stream flow information that is taken for 
granted by all other States in the Nation. Alaska averages one working 
gage for each 10,000 square miles, while, as an example, Pacific 
Northwest States average one gage for each 365 square miles. To 
emphasize the lack of data now available for Alaska, I would point out 
that to equal the stream gage density of the Pacific Northwest States 
my State would need to have over 1,600 total gage sites.
  Alaska also supports the Nation's least modern and undeveloped 
potable water distribution system. Water for Alaska towns outside of 
the more densely populated ``Railbelt'' comes predominately from 
groundwater sources. Surface water sources often result in supply/
storage problems since these surface sources freeze and are not readily 
available for up to half of the year. The chances for water-borne 
contaminants to affect potable water supplies, including fecal matter 
from Alaska's plentiful wildlife populations, human waste from inquate 
or nonexistent sewage treatment facilities, and natural mineral 
deposits, natural arsenic levels in mineralized zone creeks frequently 
exceeding EPA standards) are present and increasing. In areas that 
predominately depend on groundwater sources, such as the ``Railbelt'' 
there is only very limited knowledge of the nature and extent of 
aquifers that support those critical groundwater supplies. Extensive 
permafrost further complicates the potential for adverse impacts to 
Alaska. In portions of Southcentral Alaska where there is a dependence 
on groundwater as the source for an adequate healthy water supply, the 
availability of that supply is starting to be in jeopardy. Allocations 
of water need to be based on scientific data, and the data needed upon 
which the allocations are made is unavailable. Users of water are only 
beginning to realize the potential conflicts that may arise, and the 
limits on future economic development that may result from inadequate 
knowledge of the water resource, particularly in the Matanuska-Susitna 
Borough, on the Kenai Peninsula, and to a lesser extent in portions of 
the municipality of Anchorage and in the Fairbanks area, where 
groundwater provided by wells is a crucial part of the State's water 
distribution system, and where there is little known about the size, 
capacity, extent and recharge capability of the aquifers that these 
wells tap.

[[Page S240]]

  Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental 
Conservation, still has some 16,000 homes in 71 generally Native 
villages not being served by piped water or enclosed water haul 
systems. There are still 55 villages in Alaska where up to 29 percent 
of the residents are not served by sanitary water systems, with more 
than 60 percent of residents not being served in 16 villages. Even 
though, since statehood in 1959, the State and Federal governments have 
spent $1.3 billion on rural water-sanitation system improvements, the 
State still has an estimated need for nearly $650 million in additional 
funding to complete installation of a modern water-sanitation system.
  Planning and engineering for those locations cannot be easily 
completed without better information as to the availability and extent 
of supply of water and better analysis of new technologies that could 
be used for water system installations, including possible desalination 
for some island and coastal communities.
  For all these reasons today I have reintroduced legislation 
authorizing the Department of the Interior's Commissioner of 
Reclamation and the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey to conduct a 
series of water resource studies in Alaska. The studies will include a 
survey of water treatment needs and technologies, including 
desalination treatment, which may be applicable to water resources 
developments in Alaska. The study will review the need for enhancement 
of the National Streamflow Information Program administered by the U.S. 
Geological Survey. The Streamflow review will determine whether more 
stream gaging stations are necessary for flood forecasting, aiding 
resource extraction, determining the risk to the state's transportation 
system, and for wildfire management. Groundwater resources will also be 
further evaluated and documented to determine the availability of 
water, the quality of that groundwater, and the extent of the aquifers 
in some urban areas.
  This type of study, already conducted for most all other States in 
the Nation, should help Alaska better plan and design water systems and 
transportation infrastructure and also better prepare for floods and 
summer wildfires.
  There is literally ``water, water everywhere'' in Alaska, but too 
often, especially in communities such as Ketchikan that take water from 
surface sources, or the rapidly growing Mat-Su Valley where there may 
be less water to drink during unusually dry summers, there is a real 
and growing problem of maintaining an adequate healthy supply of pure 
water. This problem is only going to grow more severe with a growing 
population and economy. This bill is designed to provide more 
information to help communities plan for future water needs and to help 
State officials plan for flood and fire safety concerns and further 
economic development.
                                 ______