[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 238 (Monday, December 13, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72215-72216]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27278]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Rocky Boy's/North Central Montana Regional Water System, Water 
Conservation Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of finding.

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SUMMARY: The Rocky Boy's/North Central Montana Regional Water System 
Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-331) authorized construction of the Rocky 
Boy's/North Central Montana Regional Water System in north-central 
Montana. To meet the requirements of the Act, the Chippewa Cree Tribe 
and the North Central Montana Regional Water Authority developed and 
submitted a water conservation plan to Reclamation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Doug Oellermann, Bureau of 
Reclamation, Montana Area Office, PO Box 30107, Billings, Montana 
59107-0137, or at (406) 247-7333 or by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Finding

    The Chippewa Cree Tribe and the North Central Montana Regional 
Water Authority submitted the ``Water Conservation Plan, Rocky Boy's/
North Central Montana Regional Water System'' dated September 2004, 
that includes prudent and reasonable water conservation measures for 
the operation of the Rocky Boy's/North Central Montana Regional Water 
System that have been shown to be economically and financially 
feasible.
    In addition to authorizing construction of the Rocky Boy's/North 
Central Montana Regional Water System, the Act authorizes 
appropriations of $202,880,000 to Reclamation. The Act states under 
section 906(3) that ''The Secretary shall not obligate funds for 
construction of the core system or the noncore system until the 
Secretary publishes a written finding that the water conservation plan 
developed under section 911(a) includes prudent and reasonable water 
conservation measures for the operation of the Rocky Boy's/North 
Central Montana Regional Water System that have been shown to be 
economically and financially feasible.''
    The requirements for the conservation plan are described under 
section 911 of the Act that states:
    ``(a) In General--The Tribe and the Authority shall develop and 
incorporate into the final engineering report a water conservation plan 
that contains--
    ``(1) a description of water conservation objectives;
    ``(2) a description of appropriate water conservation measures; and
    ``(3) a time schedule for implementing the water conservation 
measures to meet the water conservation objectives.
    ``(b) Purpose--The water conservation plan under subsection (a) 
shall be designed to ensure that users of water from the core system, 
on-reservation water distribution systems, and the noncore system will 
use the best practicable technology and management techniques to 
conserve water.''
    To fulfill the requirements of section 911, the Chippewa Cree Tribe 
and the North Central Montana Regional Water Authority transmitted a 
water conservation plan (Plan) to Reclamation, dated September 2004. 
The Plan fulfills all the requirements of the Act as discussed below.
    In fulfillment of section 911(a)(1), the Plan contains six 
reasonable and prudent water conservation objectives appropriate for 
the pre-construction phase of this multi-phase project:
    1. Keep system per capita water use below 196 gallons per capita 
per day.
    2. Keep variable operation and maintenance costs under Final 
Engineering Report (FER) levels.
    3. Develop drought/emergency preparedness plans to deal with a 12-
hour project shutdown.
    4. Initiate education/outreach and public involvement efforts.
    5. Limit Tiber Reservoir withdrawals to FER levels.
    6. Extend the life of the project by conserving water.
    To accomplish these objectives, and in fulfillment of section 
911(a)(2) of the Act, the Plan identifies 15 water conservation 
measures (Table 1-1 of the Plan) to be implemented starting in Year 1 
of construction with full implementation scheduled by Year 5, the 
second year that treated water will be delivered to non-core users.

Pre-Water Delivery

    1. Meter all water deliveries.
    2. Adopt water-conserving rate structure for off-reservation 
systems.
    3. Initiate education/outreach and public involvement efforts.
    4. Secure supplies of educational materials.
    5. Develop drought/emergency preparedness plans.
    6. Work with wholesale water purchasers to develop individual water 
conservation plans.
    7. Develop strategies and any necessary ordinances, regulations, 
contracts or similar arrangements/documents.
    8. Develop design criteria to reflect water conservation 
considerations.

First Year of Water Delivery

    1. Maintain pro-active education/outreach efforts, including public 
meetings, news articles, etc.
    2. Prepare annual report highlighting conservation program 
problems, successes, cost-benefit comparisons, etc. and make this 
information available and responsive to the public.
    3. Continue to work with wholesale water purchasers and the Rocky 
Boy Reservation.

Long-Term Water Conservation Program

    1. An annual review to identify problems, suggest improvements, and 
solicit input from concerned parties.
    2. Continued outreach/education efforts.
    3. Targeted public relations activities.
    4. Continued enforcement of applicable rules and regulations.
    Reclamation Manual Directives and Standards (WTR 01-01), published 
in December 1996, identify ``Fundamental Water Conservation Measures'' 
that are

[[Page 72216]]

considered economically and financially feasible and applicable to all 
water conservation programs. The fundamental measures include a water 
measurement and accounting system, water pricing structure, and an 
information and education program. All but one of the water 
conservation measures included in the Plan are considered by 
Reclamation as fundamental. The conservation measure which is to 
develop drought/emergency preparedness plans, while not considered 
fundamental, is an additional water conservation measure under WTR 01-
01 and will not result in increased project cost.
    In fulfillment of section 911(a)(3), the plan contains a time 
schedule for implementing the measures to meet the water conservation 
objectives. This time scheduled is included with the above description 
of the objectives and measures.
    In fulfillment of section 911(b), Reclamation has reviewed and 
determined that the water conservation plan has been designed to ensure 
that the water users will use the best practicable technology and 
management techniques to conserve water.

    Dated: November 8, 2004.
Gerald W. Kelso,
Acting Regional Director, Great Plains Region.
[FR Doc. 04-27278 Filed 12-10-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P