2023-25310. Change in Discount Rate for Water Resources Planning

AGENCY:

Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of change in discount rate.

SUMMARY:

The Bureau of Reclamation is announcing the interest rate to be used by Federal agencies in the formulation and evaluation of plans for water and related land resources is 2.75 percent for fiscal year 2024.

DATES:

This discount rate is to be used for the period October 1, 2023, through and including September 30, 2024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Brandee Blumenthal, Bureau of Reclamation, Reclamation Law Administration Division, P.O. Box 25007, Denver, Colorado 80225; telephone [phone]; or email at [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Water Resources Planning Act of 1965 and the Water Resources Development Act of 1974 require an annual determination of a discount rate for Federal water resources planning. The discount rate for Federal water resources planning for fiscal year 2024 is 2.75 percent. The prior year's rate, as announced in the Federal Register on November 4, 2022 (87 FR 66745), was 2.50 percent for fiscal year 2023. Discounting is to be used to convert future monetary values to present values.

This rate has been computed in accordance with Section 80(a), Public Law 93–251 (88 Stat. 34), and 18 CFR 704.39, which: (1) specify that the rate will be based upon the average yield during the preceding fiscal year on interest-bearing marketable securities of the United States which, at the time the computation is made, have terms of 15 years or more remaining to maturity (average yield is rounded to nearest one-eighth percent); and (2) provide that the rate will not be raised or lowered more than one-quarter of 1 percent for any year. The U.S. Department of the Treasury calculated the specified average to be 4.0332 percent. In accordance with the Water Resource Council Rules and Regulations, the maximum adjustment allowed for the current fiscal year rate is one-quarter of one percentage point from the previous fiscal year rate, which was 2.50 percent. Therefore, the fiscal year 2024 rate is 2.75 percent.

The rate of 2.75 percent will be used by all Federal agencies in the formulation and evaluation of water and related land resources plans for the purpose of discounting future benefits and computing costs or otherwise converting benefits and costs to a common-time basis.

Christopher Beardsley,

Director, Policy and Programs.