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Western States Water Council Water Resources Committee Minutes Washington, D.C. March 28, 2006 . meet future challenges, in 2003, BOR began carefully planning future O&M and meet with the contractors. Budgets get in the way. We see the wave ofthe future being in collaboration. The federal government cannot come up with the money in the future. That is why Managing for Excellence is so important. BOR is putting more effort into tracking deferred maintenance. BOR's view is that no critical maintenance can be deferred. The Rural Water Bill (S.895) also deals with Loan Guarantee Program authority. Should that be passed by Congress, it would provide a tool for some sponsors to pay for major rehabs for the next 10-20 years. There is an administrative fee of I %. It may provide a means for those who have an ability to pay, to privately finance their needs. It could provide a tool for loans from lending institutions to do rehab. Tom Donnelly added a couple of points about the Managing for Excellence. Bennett Raley, former Assistant Secretary of Interior, asked for the NAS review and the NAS did an outstanding job on this document. A very knowledgeable team was put together. The BOR's response to the study has been great. They are not holding back, but rather are searching for assistance from without. NWRA will be helping the BOR assess those needs. This is an opportunity for all of us to really improve our future in the western United States. We should not let the opportunity go by. Many of the infrastructure needs come down to money. Weare operating the federal government at a tremendous budget deficit. Many of the states need to begin to pony up the money. I was very impressed with the effort in Montana on the Milk River. . Questions and Answers Tom Maddock: All of the projects were built on an ability to pay basis, but I suppose thathas changed over time. Have you made an evaluation to determine how much the water users can pay on this? There is no more money in the bucket, so you would go to the water users? Bill Rinne: I don't have an overall idea, as most of it has been on a case-by-case basis. In the Denver office, we have an item in the budget that is set up to improve maintenance scheduling, etc. I cannot give you numbers off the top of my head. This is an area that needs to be looked at. Rod Kuharich: More by way of a comment, 1 agree with the way you are going about this aging infrastructure effort. There is a lot of flexibility in the programs the BOR set up. In an attempt to optimize the programs, there may be a voluntary program on the Arkansas...and in other areas where you rehab or make major improvements to facilities because of other concerns (power output primarily). These kinds of trends are occurring. The other comment is that we are not shrinking from the task. We are growing. We will see significant need for changes in the future. The BOR needs to move forward to maintain their facilities and may need to look at building new facilities. . 10