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]

Note: See note under 541.561.