OCR Text |
Show sistent reimbursement policy would raise the level of reimbursement. Flood control (other than local projects), which constitutes a large proportion of present and pro- jected outlays, is largely nonreimbursable, even though great direct benefits accrue to individuals and communities. Navigation outlays create pri- vate benefits for which no repayment is required. In some irrigation projects, as in California, re- imbursement requirements based on estimated ability to pay fall considerably short of direct private benefits, and a substantial monetary value accrues to the owners. Likewise, individual or community benefits from water supply, sedimentation control, salin- ity control, ground-water recharge, pollution abatement, and recreation may be so substantial as to warrant higher reimbursement require- ments. Perhaps more important than increased reim- bursement from primary beneficiaries is increased recovery from secondary beneficiaries. Their gains from multiple-function development may be much greater than those of primary bene- ficiaries. Present reimbursement procedure fails to re- cover into the public treasury any significant por- tion of the values accruing to secondary bene- ficiaries. Only recently, in a few instances, such as the Northern Colorado Conservancy District, on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, has there been any serious effort to do so. This inaction has been excused on practical grounds, such as politi- cal opposition and the difficulties of assessment and collection. The Bureau of Reclamation has studied the extent of these secondary benefits, and found that they may exceed direct benefits. In Payette, Idaho, for example, local business and profes- sional interests received $1.35 in added income for every dollar of cost in the Bureau's reclama- tion project there. The existence of these bene- fits suggests a substantial capacity for reimburse- ment which should, in the interests of equity, be tapped to raise the general level of reimbursement. One fact stands out. There are today various reimbursement policies for specific water re- sources functions, but none adapted to compre- hensive river basin programs. This is reflected in the lack of any clear policy with regard to public values, contributions to irrigation, or the statutory immunity from reimbursement. The emergence of new functions in water resources programs also complicates the situation. A re- vision of the approach to reimbursement appears necessary* not only for equity and consistency, but also to bring it into harmony with unified plan- ning of comprehensive multiple-purpose develop- ment. The meaning of these single-purpose ap- proaches to reimbursement is well illustrated in one of the most important river basin develop- ments being undertaken at the present time, that of the Columbia. Because of past statutory ap- proaches, irrigation, flood control, and naviga- tion programs are still the officially accepted major purposes of basin development, with differ- ent policies governing reimbursement. Power generation more and more has been added to the original big three as a primary objective in basin planning, but it remains tied to one or the other as far as reimbursement policy is concerned. Thus a multiple-purpose dam like McNary on the lower river (navigation, power, some irriga- tion) will be required to amortize from revenues only the cost allocable to electric power gen- eration, including interest. Other Army Engi- neers-constructed dams would operate under similar reimbursement policy. On the other hand, for Grand Coulee Dam, constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation, reimbursement will be required for the costs allocable to irrigation as well as for power, because irrigation costs under reclamation law are fully reimbursable; other Bureau of Reclamation projects have similar pro- visions. Under present policy there must be a number of different bases for determination of electric power rates, because each project is a unit in it- self. Still, it is imperative that we have an inter- connected regional transmission system in which power from the various dams is indistinguishable. Also some good irrigable lands in southern Idaho must go undeveloped because they cannot be di- 75 |