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




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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
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