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Show Chapter 10 Comparative Summary In previous chapters, we traced the growth of federal law affecting the development, utilization, and conservation of water resources, including related uses of land. That law de- veloped in response to expressed needs arising from time to time, as to one and then another of the purposes for which water may be used or controlled: navigation, flood control, irri- gation, power, and other public purposes. Nor did this devel- opment overlook water's relationship to uses of land. For the most part, each of these needs has received separate legislative treatment as it has arisen, and separate administrative ma- chinery for the several needs has confirmed and extended this approach. We have also seen, however, that the potentialities of uses of structures for more than one purpose and the inevitable physical interrelationships among structures on the same river system have led to multiple-purpose projects and toward comprehen- sive development. This evolution we outlined in the pre- ceding chapter. But the process has continued without substantially alter- ing the underlying bodies of separate law which are still largely articulated with the principal water-resource purposes. And since these underlying bodies of law have not been substan- tially altered, a composite of the separate, differing, and often conflicting statutory provisions constitutes the law applicable to federal responsibilities for and participation in water- resource activities. This "law" is thus a unit in name only. To understand the practical impact of that law, it is not sufficient to have described the historical origins and growth with respect to each separate purpose. Rather, it is necessary to consider together the provisions applicable to each func- 493 |
