Chapter 13
AN ACT
SB 1069
Relating to water supply; appropriating money; and declaring an
emergency.
Be It Enacted by the People of
the State of
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
General Fund. Moneys in the Water Conservation, Reuse and Storage Investment
Fund are continuously appropriated to the Water Resources Department to award
grants and to pay the cost of direct services provided under section 1 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) Grant repayments, if
any.
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.
RECOVERY ASSESSMENT
SECTION 5. (1)
The Water Resources Department shall conduct a regional aquifer recovery
assessment for the
(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
SECTION 6. In
completing the Umatilla Basin regional aquifer recovery assessment required by
section 5 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.
MISCELLANEOUS
SECTION 7. Sections
5 and 6 of this 2008 Act are repealed on January 2, 2014.
SECTION 8. 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 9. 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.
Approved by the Governor March 5, 2008
Filed in the office of Secretary of State March 5, 2008
Effective date March 5, 2008
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