§ 541.566 — Studies eligible for grants or direct service cost payments

Oregon § 541.566

• Jurisdiction: Oregon
• Vol.: 15
• Title 45: Water Resources; Irrigation, Drainage, Flood Control, Reclamation
• Ch. 541: Water Distributors; Water Releases; Conservation and Storage

Text

(1) A study receiving a grant or payment for direct services under ORS 541.561 may include activities necessary to assess the type, location, design, cost or other factors affecting the feasibility of a project described in ORS 541.561. Specific activities may include, but are 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 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 potential environmental, social, cultural or economic benefits, harm or impacts from a proposed project;
(j) Analyses of potential public benefits accruing from a proposed project;
(k) Fiscal analyses of a proposed project, including estimated project costs, financing for the project and projected financial returns from the project;
(L) Hydrological analyses of a proposed project, including the anticipated effects of climate change on hydrological refill capacity;
(m) Analyses of potential water quality impacts of the project;
(n) The development of water management and conservation plans and associated analyses that assess alternatives to achieve water conservation;
(o) Data collection and analyses related to the preparation of seasonally varying flow as prescribed in rules of the Water Resources Commission;
(p) Analyses associated with evaluating the safety of existing dams and evaluating actions to address safety deficiencies related to existing dams; and
(q) Analyses of impacts of a project on environmental justice or disproportionately impacted communities and ways to minimize impacts on environmental justice or disproportionately impacted communities.
(2) If a 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.

Legislative History

2008 c.13 §2; 2025 c.82 §2