National Water Conservation Act of 1988 - Title I: Federal Water Conservation Policies - Declares that the following Federal agencies substantially affect the supply, management, or use of water resources: (1) the Department of Agriculture, primarily the Farmers Home Administration and the Soil Conservation Service; (2) the Department of the Army, primarily the Army Corps of Engineers; (3) the Department of Commerce, primarily the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; (4) the Environmental Protection Agency; (5) the Department of Housing and Urban Development; (6) the Department of the Interior, primarily the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Geological Survey; and (7) the Tennessee Valley Authority. Requires the top official of each agency to study that agency's policies with respect to water conservation, including the interactions of such policies with other Federal or State agencies. Requires each study specifically to examine the mechanisms by which such policies promote or discourage the economically and environmentally efficient and sustainable use of water. Requires a report to the Congress by January 1, 1990, on each study. Requires such agencies, by January 1, 1990, to implement a plan of action for administratively bringing the agency's policies into conformance with the national policy of water conservation for sustainable use.
Title II: Federal Consideration of Water Conservation - Directs the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture, jointly and separately, to consider specified water conservation activities and programs whenever they are involved in water supply studies.
Directs the Secretary of the Army, acting through the Corps of Engineers, to study the management of water levels in those federally managed reservoirs experiencing more than 1,000,000 estimated visitor-days of recreation use in any of the last five years. Requires a report to the Congress by January 1, 1990.
Directs the Secretary of the Army to make available to the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture resources of the Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources.
Directs the President's Council on Environmental Quality to require the consideration of water conservation and water conservation activities in all relevant environmental impact studies.
Directs the General Accounting Office to undertake a comprehensive study of water usage in all Federal facilities within the United States and report to the Congress by January 1, 1990, on the results of such study.
Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to submit copies of the study on wastewater reclamation and reuse to specified congressional committees.
Title III: Agricultural Water Conservation Research - Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to give highest priority to research on and development of strains of crops that are resistant to drought or regularly require less water than currently available strains. Requires the Secretary to report to the Congress annually on such activities.
Directs the Secretary to conduct research on, development, and demonstration of technologies, methods, and practices which show promise of providing substantial and feasible water conservation benefits in irrigation, livestock watering, and other agricultural uses of water. Requires a report to the Congress annually on such activities.
Directs the Secretary, acting through the Cooperative Extension Service, the Soil Conservation Service, and other agencies, to provide technical assistance to agricultural producers and otherwise promote and encourage the use of technologies, methods, and practices that provide regional water conservation benefits. Requires a report to the Congress by January 1, 1990, on factors in the decisions of individual agricultural producers to utilize technologies, methods, and practices that provide regional water conservation benefits.
Title IV: National Clearinghouse on Water Conservation - Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to establish and oversee a National Clearinghouse on Water Conservation to collect, analyze, and disseminate information on water conservation technologies and practices and to promote their adoption by public and private water utilities and agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential consumers.
Title V: Study of Aquifer Depletion - Requires the Director of the United States Geological Survey to study the Nation's major aquifers to ascertain those that have been or will be depleted and to determine the causes and effects of such depletion. Requires a report to the Congress by January 1, 1990.
Authorizes appropriations for titles III, IV, and V of this Act.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to House Committee on Agriculture.
Referred to House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.
Referred to House Committee on Public Works and Transportation.
Referred to Subcommittee on Conservation Credit and Rural Development.
Referred to Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture.
Referred to Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources.
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