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Show 337 Sediment and Salinity Control Legislative recognition of these aspects of development, uti- lization, and conservation of water resources has been infre- quent and usually indirect. Siltation of reservoirs may drastically curtail the useful life of a dam, and interfere with the navigability of waterways.105 This has been indirectly recognized in extensive legislation for the protection and improvement of navigable waters by the Army Engineers,108 and more recently and more directly in legislation for erosion control.107 But sediment's direct impact on developmental programs has otherwise received infrequent attention in statutes of general application. In a number of instances, Congress has authorized particular river-develop- ment works in accordance with plans of the Army Engineers and of the Bureau of Reclamation, which take heed of the effect of sedimentation and the need for its control.108 Significant also is the duty of the California Debris Com- mission to adopt such plans as will improve the navigability of the rivers of the Sacramento and San Joaquin systems, deepen their channels, and protect their banks.109 The plans must be matured with a view to making them effective as against the encroachment of and damage from "debris result- ing from mining operations, natural erosion, or other causes." no 108 In this connection, see A Study op Methods Used in Measurement and Analysis of Sediment Loads in Streams, FIARBC, Interdepartmental Com- mittee, p. 11 (1948). See also Inventory of Published and Unpublished Sediment-Load Data in the United States, FIARBC, Sedimentation Bulle- tin No. 1 (1949); Proceedings of the Federal Inter-Agency Sedimentation Conference, United States Department of the Interior (January 1948). m See supra, pp. 87-112. 107 See infra, pp. 366-372. 108 See, e. g., Fort Peck Project (Act of May 18, 1938, 52 Stat. 403, as amended, 16 U. S. C. 833-833p; Sen. Doc. No. 191, 78th Cong., 2d sess., p. 107, 1944) ; Boulder Canyon Project (Act of December 21, 1928, 45 Stat. 1057, as amended, 43 U. S. C. 617-617t; Sen. Rep. No. 592, 70th Cong., 1st sess., p. 18, 1928). See also proposed Central Arizona Project (Sen. Rep. No. 832, 81st Cong., 1st sess., pp. 14-15, 1949). 109 Act of March 1,1893, § 4, 27 Stat. 507, 33 U. S. C, 664. 110 Id. |