Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 122.djvu/1816

 12 2 STA T . 1 793PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 2 46—J U NE 1 8, 2008 ‘ ‘ (1)AGRICULT UR A L W AT E RE NH ANCE M ENT ACTI V IT Y.—Thet e rm ‘ ag r icul tural w ater e n hancement acti v it y’ inclu d e s the fo llowing activities carried out with res p ect to agricultural land

‘‘(A) W ater q uality or water conservation plan develop - ment , including resource condition assessment and mod- eling. ‘‘( B ) Water conservation restoration or enhancement pro j ects, including conversion to the production of less water-intensive agricultural commodities or dryland farming. ‘‘( C ) Water quality or quantity restoration or enhance- ment projects. ‘‘( D ) I rrigation system improvement and irrigation effi- ciency enhancement. ‘‘( E ) Activities designed to mitigate the effects of drought. ‘‘( F ) R elated activities that the S ecretary determines will help achieve water quality or water conservation b ene- fits on agricultural land. ‘‘( 2 ) P ARTNER.—The term ‘partner’ means an entity that enters into a partnership agreement with the Secretary to carry out agricultural water enhancement activities on a regional basis, including— ‘‘(A) an agricultural or silvicultural producer associa- tion or other group of such producers ‘‘(B) a State or unit of local government; or ‘‘(C) a federally recogni z ed Indian tribe. ‘‘( 3 ) PARTNER S HI P AGREEMENT.—The term ‘partnership agreement’ means an agreement between the Secretary and a partner. ‘‘( 4 )PR O GRAM.—The term ‘program’ means the agricultural water enhancement program established under subsection (b). ‘‘(b) ESTA B LISHMENT O F PROGRAM.—Beginning in fiscal year 2 0 0 9, the Secretary shall carry out, in accordance with this section and using such procedures as the Secretary determines to be appro- priate, an agricultural water enhancement program as part of the environmental quality incentives program to promote ground and surface water conservation and improve water quality on agricul- tural lands— ‘‘(1) by entering into contracts with, and ma k ing payments to, producers to carry out agricultural water enhancement activities; or ‘‘(2) by entering into partnership agreements with partners, in accordance with subsection (c), on a regional level to benefit working agricultural land. ‘‘(c) PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS.— ‘‘(1) AGREEMENTS AUTHORI Z E D .—The Secretary may enter into partnership agreements to meet the objectives of the pro- gram described in subsection (b). ‘‘(2) APPLICATIONS.—An application to the Secretary to enter into a partnership agreement under paragraph (1) shall include the following: ‘‘(A) A description of the geographical area to be cov- ered by the partnership agreement. ‘‘(B) A description of the agricultural water quality or water conservation issues to be addressed by the partner- ship agreement. Ef f ectiv e da te .Pro ced u re s . C o n tracts.

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