REPORT ON WATER PERMIT APPLICATION NO. 1986-1 TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP December 12, 2018 Application No. 1986-1, proposes to appropriate 238,21 acre-feet of water annually at a maximum pump rate of 6.68 cubic feet of water per second (cfs) from the Cheyenne River located in the approximate center of the § 1/2 Section 1-T6N-R17E (Meade County) for use in the pipeline construction which includes dust control along project right-of-way, horizontal directional drilling, pump station construction and hydrostatic testing of the pipeline. The diversion points are located approximately 36 miles south of Faith SD. South Dakota Codified Law SDCL 46-2A-2 directs the Chief Engineer to make a recommendation to the Water Management Board on a permit application. The Chief Engineer needs to consider four criteria in making a recommendation on whether a permit should be approved, approved with qualifications, denied, or deferred. They are: 1) there is reasonable probability that there is unappropriated water available for the applicant’s proposed use, 2) the proposed diversion can be developed without unlawful impairment of existing rights, 3) the proposed use is a beneficial use, and 4) itis in the public interest, ‘This report will analyze the available information and make a recommendation to the Chief Engineer on the first two criteria the Chief Engineer needs to consider in making an official recommendation to the Water Management Board. Proy Pri ‘The applicant, TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP, is proposing to construct and operate a crude oil pipe line from Hardisty, Alberta Canada to Steele City Nebraska, TransCanada proposes to build a portion of this pipeline through western South Dakota entering the state from Montana in the northwest comer of Harding County approximately 32 miles northwest of the town of Buffalo. The pipeline is to run in a generally southeasterly direction, exiting the state into ‘Nebraska in the southeastem corner of Tripp County approximately 20 miles southeast of the town of Colome. The applicant filed three applications from the Bad, Cheyenne and White rivers to be used in pipeline construction. This application is for appropriation of water from the Cheyenne River. The applicant proposes to divert water from the Cheyenne River at a rate of up to 6.68 ef for construction of the pipeline including dust control along project right-of-way, horizontal directional drilling, pump station construction and hydrostatic testing of the pipeline during the annual period January 1 through December 31. The annual volume requested is up to 238.21 ac- ft of water. This equates to pumping at approximately 5 percent of the time at a rate of 6.68 cfs (3000 gpm).Review of the Water Source ‘The water source for the proposed project is from the lower Cheyenne River downstream from the confluence of the Belle Fourche River with the Cheyenne River. The Cheyenne River headwaters in the high plains of Wyoming in the Thunder Basin National Grasslands and ‘meanders around the southern extent of the Black Hills entering South Dakota about 14 miles northwest of the town of Edgemont, SD in Fall River County. The river is impounded by Angostura Reservoir located approximately 6 miles south of Hot Springs, SD and is capable of impounding up to 138,761 acre-feet of water stored in Angostura Reservoir for irigation at the Angostura Irrigation District and other purposes. Construction of Angostura Reservoir was completed in 1949 as part of the Angostura Unit and supplies the Angostura Irrigation District water for irrigation of 12,218 acres in northeastern Fall River and southeastern Custer counties, (US Bureau of Reclamation, 2002). The Belle Fourche River headwaters in northeastem Wyoming and flows northeast around the northem edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota then east to the Cheyenne River confluence north of Wasta, South Dakota. In this stretch is the Belle Fourche Irrigation District, a US Bureau of Reclamation irrigation project capable of diverting Belle Fourche River flow to an off river reservoir located on Owl Creek. This project was completed in 1914 and includes the Belle Fourche River diversion dam, a storage dam capable of impounding 192,077 acre-feet of storage and irrigating 57,068 acres in southeastern Butte and northwestern Meade counties, (US Bureau of Reclamation, 2004). In addition there are numerous tributaries located along the southern, eastern and northern flanks of the Black Hills that contribute flow to the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers. A major source of flow coming from upstream of this project is from irrigation return flows from the Angostura Irrigation District and the Belle Fourche Irrigation District, Figure 1. fe 2 & Figure 1. Area Map for Water Permit Application No. 1986-1Staff relies on historical streamflow records to give an indication of the flow characteristics of a particular stream throughout the year. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a long term stream gaging monitoring network in South Dakota providing real-time flow information that can be accessed by the public. The USGS provides a repository for several years of historical daily flow data and statistical daily, monthly and annual flow information. Mean, often referred to as average, and median, otherwise referred to as 50 percentile, are statistical terms having a similar role in understanding the central tendency of a set of statistical results, Mean is often used to describe a middle value of a set of data values and is calculated by determining the sum of the data values and by dividing the sum by the number of data values, Median can be described as the value separating the higher half of a set of data values from the lower half and may be thought of as the central value of a data set, The disadvantage of using mean to describe flow is the mean value can be significantly affected by any single value in the data set being very high or very low compared to the rest of the data values. In the analysis of Jong term flow data, large flood event data values skew the calculated mean value giving an unreasonable expectation of a higher flow value for a period of time. An example of this is shown in Figure 2, which is a comparison of the daily mean flow value versus the monthly median flow value for the USGS Cheyenne River gaging station, Cheyenne River near Plainview SD (USGS 06438500). The USGS intermittently collected daily flow data at this gaging station for 48 to 50 years during the period the station has been operated (USGS. 2018). Figure 2. USGS Cheyenne River near Plainview, 1945-2017; Mean versus Median monthly flow values ~ 48 to 50 years of record, 1950 to 2018. Contributing drainage area of 21,351 mi? (USGS.2018).