OCR Text |
Show 544 uses, and for irrigation, power generation, and other beneficial uses, shall be and remain unaffected by or as a result hereof. All such rights are hereby saved and reserved for and to the said States and the people and the municipalities thereof, and the impounding of any such waters for any and all beneficial uses by said States or under their authority may be as freely done after the passage hereof as the same may now be done. The 1944 Act also contains an authorization for the Secre- tary of the Army to make contracts for domestic and industrial uses for surplus water available at any reservoir under Army control.270 And Congress directed that no such contracts "shall adversely affect then existing lawful uses" of such water.271 Irrigation Projects.-Unlike navigation and flood-control projects governed by the foregoing provisions, projects under Reclamation Law involve principally a "consumptive" use of water-the putting of water on land to enable its productive use. The 1902 Reclamation Act contains a provision char- acterized by the United States Supreme Court as "a direction by Congress to the Secretary of the Interior" to proceed in conformity with state laws in the appropriation of water for irrigation purposes.272 This requirement, Section 8, provides:273 That nothing in this Act shall be construed as affect- ing or intended to affect or to in any way interfere with the laws of any State or Territory relating to the control, 270 Act of December 22, 1944, § 6, 58 Stat. 887, 890, 33 U. S. C. 708. 271 Id. 272 Nebraska v. Wyoming, 325 U. S. 589, 614 (1945). 273 Act of June 17, 1902, § 8, 32 Stat. 388, 390, 43 U. S. C. 383, 372. See also supra, pp. 46-48. With Section 8 compare this provision appearing in a recent statute authorizing the Folsom Dam, "Nothing contained in this Act shall be con- strued by implication or otherwise as an allocation of water and in the studies for the purposes of developing plans for disposal of water as herein authorized the Secretary of the Interior shall make recommendations for the use of w ater in accord with State water laws, including but not limited to such laws giving priority to the counties and areas of origin for present and future needs." Act of October 14, 1949, § 2, 63 Stat. 852. |