In Reply Refer To: April 14, 2004
Mail Stop 415
Memorandum
Office of Surface Water Technical Memorandum No. 2004.03
Subject: Revision of Agreement Forms for Gaging Station Transfers
The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of a revision made to form
9-3107-- Agreement for Gaging Station Transfer and to form 9-3107a -- Agreement
for Gaging Station Transfer to a Federal Agency. After these forms were
announced on September 17, 2003 in the Office of Surface Water (OSW) Technical
Memorandum No. 2003.08, OSW received further comments from the Western Region
Solicitor and a Department of Justice Attorney from Sacramento. On their
recommendation, we have revised the forms to now state that the transferee will
provide U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with a copy of the transferee's
engineering report.
The underlying policy on gaging station transfers is given in Water Resources
Discipline Memorandum 92.12 -- Policy for the Transfer of a Gaging Station
Structure to a State or Local Government Agency (December 6, 1991) [see:
/admin/memo/WRD/wrdpolicy92.012.html]. The policy was
established to provide Districts with a legal basis upon which to transfer
infrastructure assets no longer needed by the USGS to a cooperating State or
local agency. There are several conditions that must be met, such as the
Transferee must obtain its own property agreement with the landowner, no USGS
equipment can be transferred, and the transfer must be approved by the Regional
Hydrologist. In addition, the forms state that relevant safety policies and
procedures are provided to the transferee, and the transferee must conduct an
independent evaluation to identify and acknowledge any design, structural, or
maintenance deficiencies associated with the gaging station, and provide the
District with a copy of the report.
The forms can be accessed through the USGS forms page,
https://gsvaresa01.er.usgs.gov/Welcome.nsf?Open. Form 9-3107 should be used to
transfer a gaging station to state, local, or tribal government agency or
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission licensee. Form 9-3107a should be used to
transfer a gage to another federal agency. It is recommended that a memorandum
be written to the record stating: (1) why the gaging station was transferred;
(2) that no equipment was transferred with the gaging station; (3) that a list
of safety policies and guidelines pertaining to the gaging station were
provided to the Transferee; (4) the date that permission for the transfer was
obtained from the Region; and (5) that an independent engineering evaluation of
the gaging station was made by the Transferee. A copy of the signed transfer
agreement, the Transferee's landowner permission agreement, and a copy of
the Transferee's engineering report shall be filed with this memorandum in the
District office. It is very important that this documentation be available in
case it is ever needed for litigation at some time in the future.
/signed/
Stephen F. Blanchard
Chief, Office of Surface Water
Distribution Code: A, B, DC, CD, District SW Specialists, FO, OSW Staff, District AO
Added 01/14/2014
Form 9-3107
Form 9-3107a
********************************************************************* Steve Blanchard Chief, Office of Surface Water U.S. Geological Survey Phone: 703-648-5629 415 National Center Fax: 703-648-5722 Reston, VA 20192 Cell: 571-216-1423 sfblanch@usgs.gov *******************************************************************