Murkowski Wins Senate Approval for Federal Water Study

MURKOWSKI WINS SENATE APPROVAL FOR FEDERAL WATER STUDY

Sen. Lisa Murkowski late Wednesday won Senate approval for a bill to have the federal government fund a comprehensive study of water resources in Alaska, including an effort to map aquifers in populated Railbelt areas that increasingly supply well water for tens of thousands of Alaskans.

Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Water and Power Subcommittee of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, won unanimous approval for the Alaska Water Resources Act of 2005. The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Ted Stevens, will authorize the U.S. Commissioner of Reclamation to study and map aquifers that serve the City of Fairbanks, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the Municipality of Anchorage, and the Kenai Peninsula. The Bureau of Reclamation also will be authorized to study new technologies, including new desalination systems for coastal and island communities, to improve potable water supplies.

The bill also authorizes the U.S. Geological Survey to determine whether more stream gaging stations are necessary to be installed in Alaska to aid in flood forecasting, to help fight forest fires, to determine the risk of damage to roads and infrastructure from flooding and to determine the availability of water to aid natural resource extraction.

"While Alaska traditionally has gained its potable water supplies from surface sources, increasingly Alaskans in the Railbelt will be gaining their water from groundwater supplies and our knowledge of the size and health of those aquifers is woefully inadequate. As our population grows, we need better and more complete information on the availability of water year-round for our residents," said Senator Murkowski.

"Another key reason for this bill is that Alaskans who live along the state's 12,000 rivers have long known of the dangers of flooding, but still the state is covered by fewer than 100 stream gaging stations - just one thirtieth of the number located throughout the Pacific Northwest.

"An adequate water supply is vital for the people of Alaska and for the health and expansion of the state's economy. It is time that we gain a better understanding of our water supplies and what steps we can take through improved technology to improve the production, storage and distribution of fresh water to all Alaskans," said Murkowski after Senate passage of the bill ( S. 1338). It now heads to the House of Representatives for its review.

Murkowski, who noted that Alaska is estimated to hold one-third of all the fresh water in the nation, said the federal water study, already conducted for most of the rest of the nation, should be especially helpfully for natural resource industries in the state in planning future developments.

She noted that developments, from oil production on Alaska's North Slope that need water for ice road construction to potential mineral projects from northcentral to southwest Alaska, often have little baseline hydrology and water quality data available when they go to meet environmental and regulatory permitting requirements. She said additional scientific information on water supplies can't help but benefit the state's residents, their economy and the environment.

Under the bill the agencies will have two years to complete the required studies. The bill was identical to that approved by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this fall.

http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=249044