REPORT ON WATER PERMIT APPLICATION NO. 2792-2 ‘TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP December 6, 2018 Application No. 2792-2, proposes to appropriate 223.68 acre-feet of water annually at a maximum pump rate of 6.68 efs from the White River located in the approximate center of the S 1/2 Section 21-T103N-R78W (Lyman and Tripp counties) for use in the pipeline construction which includes dust control along the project right-of-way, horizontal directional drilling, pump station construction and hydrostatic testing of the pipeline. The diversion points are located approximately 14.5 miles southwest of the town of Presho 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 items the Chief Engineer needs to consider in making an official recommendation to the Water Management Board. Proposed Project The applicant, TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP, is proposing to construct and operate a crude oil pipe line from Hardisty, Alberta Canada to Stecle 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 southeastern comer of Tripp County approximately 20 miles southeast of the town of Colome. The applicant filed three applications from the Cheyenne, Bad and White rivers to be used in pipeline construction. This application is for appropriation of water from the White River. ‘The applicant proposes to appropriate 223.68 acre-feet of water annually at a maximum pump rate of 6.68 cfs from the White River located in the approximate center of the S 1/2 Section 21- T1O3N-R78W (Lyman County) for use in the pipeline construction which includes dust control along the project right-of-way, horizontal directional drilling, pump station construction and hydrostatic testing of the pipeline.The applicant proposes to divert water from the White River at a rate of up to 6.68 cfs (3000 gpm) for construction of the pipeline including dust control along the 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 223.68 ac-ft of water. This equates to pumping less than 5 percent of the time at a rate of 6.68 cfs (3000 gpm), Review of the Water Source ‘The proposed source of water for this project is the White River. The White River, a prairie stream, is located in southwestern South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, Figure 1. The White River headwaters originate in northwestern Nebraska and drains approximately 9,975 square miles before discharging into the Missouri River near Oacoma SD. A major tributary that provides significant inflows to the White River is the Little White River. Figure 1. Area Map for Water Permit Application No. 2792-2‘The Little White River headwaters in Oglala Lakota and Bennett counties before joining up with the White River approximately 12 miles southeast of the town of Murdo. The Little White River has more uniform flow than the White River due to permeable sand formation allowing precipitation seeping into the ground then moving laterally into the streams through springs and seeps (Ellis, et al. 1971). The Little White River's confluence with the White River is located approximately 43 miles upstream from the proposed diversions, 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 determining the sum of the data values and by di ‘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 long 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 White River gaging station, White River near Oacoma SD (USGS 06452000). The USGS intermittently collected daily flow data at this gaging station for 89 to 90 years during the period the station has been operated (USGS, 2018). Large spring runoff events can cause the mean values to be much larger than median values in those months. This is why using median tends to give a more representative measure of a mid-point value compared to ‘mean when analyzing river flow data.