74th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2008 Special Session
NOTE: Matter within { + braces and plus signs + } in an
amended section is new. Matter within { - braces and minus
signs - } is existing law to be omitted. New sections are within
{ + braces and plus signs + } .
LC 50
Senate Bill 1069
Printed pursuant to Senate Interim Rule 213.28 by order of the
President of the Senate in conformance with presession filing
rules, indicating neither advocacy nor opposition on the part
of the President (at the request of Senate Interim Committee on
Environment and Natural Resources)
SUMMARY
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the
measure and is not a part of the body thereof subject to
consideration by the Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's
brief statement of the essential features of the measure as
introduced.
Directs Water Resources Department to provide grants and direct
services payments for specified studies related to water
conservation, reuse and storage. Establishes Water Conservation,
Reuse and Storage Investment Fund. Continuously appropriates
moneys in fund to department for grants and direct services
payments. Authorizes State Treasurer to issue lottery bonds to
fund grants and provision of direct services.
Directs Water Resources Department to conduct Umatilla Basin
regional aquifer recovery assessment and establish mitigation
bank. Directs department to make certain requests to Bureau of
Reclamation of United States Department of the Interior.
Appropriates moneys from General Fund to department to pay costs
of assessment and to establish mitigation bank. Sunsets
assessment and mitigation bank on January 2, 2014.
Declares emergency, effective on passage.
A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to water supply; appropriating money; and declaring an
emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
{ +
WATER CONSERVATION, REUSE AND STORAGE GRANTS + }
SECTION 1. { + Grant program. (1) The Water Resources
Department shall establish a grant program to pay the qualifying
costs of planning studies performed to evaluate the feasibility
of developing a water conservation, reuse or storage project, as
described in section 2 of this 2008 Act. A grant under this
section may be made to a local government as defined in ORS
174.116, to an Indian tribe as defined in ORS 391.802 or to a
person.
(2) In lieu of grants, the department may pay the cost of
providing direct services, including but not limited to technical
planning services, for a planning study that is eligible for a
grant under this section.
(3) A grant or the cost of direct services provided under this
section may not exceed $500,000 per project. A grant or payment
for direct services may be provided only if the amount of the
grant or the cost of the direct services is matched by funding
from another source that is not less than a dollar-for-dollar
match of the amount or cost.
(4) Grants and the cost of direct services provided under this
section must be paid for from moneys available in the Water
Conservation, Reuse and Storage Investment Fund.
(5)(a) In evaluating above ground storage projects for awards
of grants or payments for direct services under this section, the
department shall give priority to projects that include
provisions for using stored water to augment in-stream flows to
conserve, maintain and enhance aquatic life, fish life or other
ecological values.
(b) In evaluating all other eligible projects, the department
shall give priority to projects identified by the department in a
statewide water assessment and inventory for the award of grants
or provision of payment for direct services under this
section. + }
SECTION 2. { + Eligible studies. (1) A planning study
receiving a grant or payment for direct services under section 1
of this 2008 Act may include, but is not limited to:
(a) Analyses of hydrological refill capacity;
(b) Water needs analyses;
(c) Refined hydrological analyses;
(d) Engineering and financial feasibility studies;
(e) Geologic analyses;
(f) Water exchange studies;
(g) Analyses of by-pass, optimum peak, flushing and other
ecological flows of the affected stream and the impact of a
proposed water conservation, reuse or storage project on those
flows;
(h) Comparative analyses of alternative means of supplying
water, including but not limited to the costs and benefits of
conservation and efficiency alternatives and the extent to which
long-term water supply needs may be met using those alternatives;
(i) Analyses of environmental harm or impacts from a proposed
water conservation, reuse or storage project;
(j) Analyses of public benefits accruing from a proposed water
conservation, reuse or storage project;
(k) Fiscal analyses of a proposed water conservation, reuse or
storage project, including estimated project costs, financing for
the project and projected financial returns from the project;
(L) Hydrological analyses of a proposed water conservation,
reuse or storage project, including the anticipated effects of
climate change on hydrological refill capacity; and
(m) Analyses of potential water quality impacts of the project.
(2) If a planning study concerns a proposed storage project
that would impound surface water on a perennial stream, divert
water from a stream that supports sensitive, threatened or
endangered fish or divert more than 500 acre-feet of surface
water annually, a grant or direct services payment may be
provided only if the study contains:
(a) Analyses of by-pass, optimum peak, flushing and other
ecological flows of the affected stream and the impact of the
storage project on those flows;
(b) Comparative analyses of alternative means of supplying
water, including but not limited to the costs and benefits of
conservation and efficiency alternatives and the extent to which
long-term water supply needs may be met using those alternatives;
(c) Analyses of environmental harm or impacts from the proposed
storage project;
(d) Evaluation of the need for and feasibility of using stored
water to augment in-stream flows to conserve, maintain and
enhance aquatic life, fish life and any other ecological values;
and
(e) For a proposed storage project that is for municipal use,
analysis of local and regional water demand and the proposed
storage project's relationship to existing and planned water
supply projects. + }
SECTION 3. { + Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage
Investment Fund. (1) The Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage
Investment Fund is established in the State Treasury, separate
and distinct from the General Fund. Interest earned by the Water
Conservation, Reuse and Storage Investment Fund shall be credited
to the fund. Moneys in the Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage
Investment Fund are continuously appropriated to the Water
Resources Department to carry out the provisions of sections 1 to
4 of this 2008 Act.
(2) The Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage Investment Fund
shall consist of:
(a) Moneys appropriated to the fund by the Legislative
Assembly;
(b) Any moneys that may be transferred to the fund by the
federal government, a state agency or a local government; and
(c) Interest earnings of the fund and grant repayments, if any.
(3) Moneys in the Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage
Investment Fund may be used only:
(a) To award grants and to pay the cost of direct services
provided under section 1 of this 2008 Act; and
(b) To pay the direct and indirect costs of the Water Resources
Department and the Water Resources Commission in administering
sections 1 to 4 of this 2008 Act. + }
SECTION 4. { + Rules. The Water Resources Commission shall
adopt rules necessary to administer sections 1 to 4 of this 2008
Act, including rules that:
(1) Establish reporting requirements for grants awarded under
section 1 of this 2008 Act;
(2) Provide for public comment before the award of grants and
payment for direct services under section 1 of this 2008 Act; and
(3) Implement the priorities required by section 1 of this 2008
Act. + }
SECTION 5. { + Lottery bonds. (1) For the biennium beginning
July 1, 2007, pursuant to ORS 286A.560 to 286A.585, the State
Treasurer may issue lottery bonds to fund the grants and the
provision of direct services under section 1 of this 2008 Act.
(2) The use of lottery bond proceeds pursuant to this section
is authorized based on the following findings:
(a) There is an urgent need to improve and expand water storage
sites, conserve water and promote the reuse of water in this
state while protecting existing watersheds.
(b) Local governments, Indian tribes and private sector
businesses often lack access to sufficient capital and the
technical capacity to undertake water storage projects.
(c) Public investments in water storage, water conservation and
water reuse projects create jobs and further economic growth
while ensuring the continued protection of watersheds.
(3) The aggregate principal amount of lottery bonds issued
pursuant to this section may not exceed $10 million plus an
additional amount established by the State Treasurer to pay
bond-related costs.
(4) The net proceeds of lottery bonds issued pursuant to this
section shall be deposited in the Water Conservation, Reuse and
Storage Investment Fund established in section 3 of this 2008
Act. + }
{ +
UMATILLA BASIN REGIONAL AQUIFER RECOVERY ASSESSMENT + }
{ +
AND MITIGATION BANK + }
SECTION 6. { + The Water Resources Department shall:
(1) Conduct a regional aquifer recovery assessment for the
Umatilla Basin; and
(2) Establish a mitigation bank to facilitate the creation of
mitigation credits that may be used to offset the use of surface
water from the Columbia River and the Umatilla River. + }
SECTION 7. { + (1) The Umatilla Basin regional aquifer
recovery assessment conducted pursuant to section 6 of this 2008
Act must:
(a) Include an engineering and hydrogeologic study that
evaluates the cost and feasibility of designing, constructing and
expanding facilities to extract surface water during times that
would avoid impacts on state or federally listed endangered or
threatened fish species and on existing water rights.
(b) Evaluate the feasibility of:
(A) Recharging ground water pursuant to ORS 537.135 in the
Ordnance and Echo Meadows aquifers; and
(B) Injecting water into the Ordnance, Butter Creek and Stage
Gulch basalt aquifers pursuant to ORS 537.531, 537.532 and
537.534.
(2) The feasibility study required under this section must
identify:
(a) Monitoring requirements to aid in the evaluation of
potential impacts to stream flows, ground water quality and
surface water quality.
(b) Options for the treatment of ground water and surface water
that meet requirements under ORS 537.135, 537.531, 537.532 and
537.534.
(c) Potential permitting and other jurisdictional issues under
ORS 537.135, 537.531, 537.532 and 537.534.
(d) Opportunities to protect fish and fish habitat, and to
improve streamflows, in the Lower Umatilla River based on
existing information. + }
SECTION 8. { + In completing the Umatilla Basin regional
aquifer recovery assessment required by sections 6 and 7 of this
2008 Act, the Water Resources Department shall request that the
Bureau of Reclamation of the United States Department of the
Interior:
(1) Consider the feasibility of using infrastructure from the
bureau's Umatilla Basin Project Phase II to deliver surface water
from the Columbia River to the Stage Gulch critical ground water
area; and
(2) Coordinate the Bureau of Reclamation study of the water
supply in the Umatilla Basin with the department's Umatilla Basin
regional aquifer recovery assessment and determine whether the
bureau may assist with the temporary or permanent replacement of
water for designated critical ground water areas in the Umatilla
Basin. + }
SECTION 9. { + There are appropriated to the Water Resources
Department, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2007, out of the
General Fund, the following amounts:
(1) $750,000 for the purpose of conducting the Umatilla Basin
regional aquifer recovery assessment pursuant to section 6 of
this 2008 Act; and
(2) $500,000 for the purpose of establishing the mitigation
bank described in section 6 of this 2008 Act. + }
{ +
MISCELLANEOUS + }
SECTION 10. { + Sections 6, 7 and 8 of this 2008 Act are
repealed on January 2, 2014. + }
SECTION 11. { + The unit and section captions used in this
2008 Act are provided only for the convenience of the reader and
do not become part of the statutory law of this state or express
any legislative intent in the enactment of this 2008 Act. + }
SECTION 12. { + This 2008 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an
emergency is declared to exist, and this 2008 Act takes effect on
its passage. + }
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