ORS 541.566: Studies eligible for grants or direct service cost payments.

(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. [2008 c.13 §2; 2025 c.82 §2]