The Water Report: Water Rights, Water Quality and Water Solutions in the West Issue 17

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July 15, 2005 appeal of Judge Redden's spill order — the parties have only 10 calendar days to file. The 9th Circuit also noted that the consolidated appeals would be scheduled as expeditiously as possible in a future order. For info: NOAA website: www.nwr.noaa.gov/lhydrop/ hydroweb /fedrec.htm; and www.salmonrecovery.gov/ KLAMATH WATER BANK OR The water bank requirement for 2005 is 100,000 acre -feet of water. The Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) announced selections for all water bank programs on March 16 and has executed all contracts for 2005. Contracts were signed for approximately 40,000 acre -feet (AF) from land idling and 64,000 to 84,000 AF from paying farmers to use groundwater. The Bureau received 258 applications for land idling, representing 43,400 acres. 159 applicants were selected, representing about 25,500 acres, to produce 40,000 AF from land idling. 38 applications were received to substitute groundwater for surface water, equivalent to reserving approximately 17,300 acre -feet of Project water for the water bank. 22 applications were selected, equivalent to about 13,900 acre -feet. In addition, the Bureau contracted with three groups of well pumpers to produce from 50,000 to 70,000 AF of groundwater for the water bank. The Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge is also storing 15,000 acre -feet of water that is intended for water bank use. Application and contract examples for dryland and groundwater situations are available from the Bureau website. For info: www.usbr.gov /mp /kbao/ pilot–water–bank/index.html CWA PENALTY NV EPA SETTLEMENT Kinder Morgan recently agreed to pay a $26,300 penalty as part of a settlement with the US Environmental Protection Agency to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations discovered The Water Report at the company's Sparks, Nevada facility last July. The company also agreed to purchase emergency response equipment for the Truckee, California Fire Protection District to enable it to respond quickly to any spills of potentially hazardous chemicals. The EPA cited the company for failing to conduct at least 10 emergency notification drills – required quarterly – over the past five years. Kinder Morgan also failed to conduct two annual oil spill response drills requiring the use of emergency equipment. The EPA also emphasized the importance of spill response training, noting that over the past two years several oil spills have occurred at Kinder Morgan's facilities in Arizona and California. Last November, a pipeline near Baker, CA, was shutdown after the discovery of a gasoline leak. Last April, more than 100,000 gallons of oil spilled into a marsh near Suisun, CA from a ruptured pipeline. In 2003, roughly 32,000 gallons of oil was released near Tucson, AZ from a corroded pipeline. For info: Dean Higuchi, EPA, 808/ 541- 2711 category of need, with $183.6 billion needed over the next 20 years. This result is consistent with the fact that transmission and distribution mains account for most of the nation's water infrastructure. The other categories, in descending order of need, are: treatment, storage, source, and a miscellaneous category of needs called "other" that includes such items as security needs. Approximately $45.1 billion (16.3 %) of the total national need is attributable to SDWA regulations. Most of these funds, $35.2 billion, are needed to address existing SDWA regulations (including the arsenic rule effective January 2006). Projects to address microbiological contamination account for 86 percent, or $30.2 billion, of the needs to meet existing SDWA regulations. The regulatory need also includes $9.9 billion in costs associated with proposed or recently finalized regulations. These costs, which were taken from economic analyses prepared as part of each rule - making, include $3.2 billion to address acute contaminants under the final Long Term 1 and proposed Long Term SAFE DRINKING WATER US 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment $277 BILLION INVESTMENT The nation's water utilities will need to make an estimated $277 billion in investments over the next 20 years, according to EPA's third Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. This large national need reflects the challenges confronting water utilities as they deal with aging infrastructures that were constructed 50 to 100 years ago in many cases. The Safe. Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires EPA to conduct the assessment every four years. This report to Congress, which reflects data collected in 2003, documents anticipated costs for repairs and replacement of transmission and distribution pipes, storage and treatment equipment, and projects that are necessary to deliver safe supplies of drinking water. The total infrastructure need nationwide is $276.8 billion for the 20- year period of January 2003 through December 2022. Transmission and distribution projects represent the largest Rules (LT1 and LT2), the proposed Ground Water Rule, and the final Filter Backwash Recycling Rule. $6.7 billion is needed to meet requirements related to regulations for chronic contaminants, which include the final Stage 1 and proposed Stage 2 Disinfectants /Disinfection Byproducts Rules (Stage 1 and Stage 2 DBPR), the proposed Radon Rule, and the final Radionuclides Rule. Results from the Survey and Assessment are used to develop a formula to distribute Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grants. Since the program began in 1997, EPA has made available nearly $8 billion to states for infrastructure projects to help utilities provide safe drinking water. States supplement their EPA grants by matching funds and with bonds, repayments and interest earnings. For info: Dale Kemery, EPA, 202/ 564 -4355, email: kemery.dale @epa.gov, or website: www.epa.gov/safewater/needssurvey/ Copyright© 2005 Envirotech Publications; Reproduction without permission strictly prohibited. 29