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Show maintenance facilities should be established as those which will entail the minimum total annual costs. (b) Technical and financial assistance should be made available to settlers on agricultural lands brought into pro- duction by water resource developments. Special prob- lems beyond the experience of settlers commonly arise in connection with the development of new lands and of ap- propriate types of farm economies for them. Assistance in the solution of these problems and in the early estab- lishment of efficient farm irrigation or drainage systems to promote careful land use, results in attaining project benefits earlier and more completely and in avoiding unnecessary settler hardships. Cooperation of the de- velopment agency and local groups through the Agricul- tural Extension Service has been demonstrated as a suc- cessful means of achieving these ends. The lack of adequate credit for farm development pur- poses continues to be a handicap to settlers on new land projects. Risks involved have been reduced through ex- perience in the selection and treatment of lands so that further extension of Federal credit in this field appears entirely justifiable. This extension, as in the case of technical assistance, will bring earlier and fuller realiza- tion of project benefits and will lessen settler hardships. The absence of these forms of settler assistance con- tributed heavily to the slow development and slow return of project costs in some earlier irrigation undertakings, including among those reviewed above, the Shoshone, Wyoming, and Belle Fourche projects. (c) Wherever practicable and in the public interest, operation and maintenance of federally constructed facili- ties should be turned over to local or State agencies. Operation and maintenance of such facilities by local or State agencies will be in the public interest under the following circumstances: (1) Where there is, or can be established, a fully responsible local agency capable of performing the work efficiently and well; (2) where that agency directly represents the interests of the people benefited; and (3) where the facilities serve a single purpose. These criteria have evolved from experience with water resource developments of the past. It has been found that irrigation distribution facilities, as for example on virtually all of the irrigation projects discussed above, can be operated as efficiently, and normally at lower cost, by local irrigation districts than by the Federal Gov- ernment, whereas storage reservoirs and major supply works serving purposes other than irrigation, or serving a number of districts, can most effectively be operated by the Federal Government in close collaboration with local agencies. Similar experience and reasons have led to turning over to local agencies the operation of local flood control facili- ties, as at Huntington, W. Va., and Wilkes Barre, Pa., and local drainage facilities. Federal operation has proved desirable, on the other hand, for multiple-purpose re- source systems, such as that of the TVA and reservoirs such as Tygart, Norfolk, Tionesta, Lake Mead, and others discussed above, and in the case of navigation improve- ments, such as the Bonneville Dam lock and Huron Harbor. Although more limited, experience with recreation fa- cilities associated with Federal reservoirs indicates like- wise that such facilities used primarily by local residents, if built by the Federal Government can best be operated by local or State agencies which most closely represent the interests of those making predominant use of the facilities. State operation of recreational facilities on Federal res- ervoirs in the Tennessee Valley and on the Tygart and Tionesta reservoirs in the Ohio Valley are examples. Where recreation interests and use importantly involve several States or the Nation, however, as in the case of the Lake Mead National Recreation area, or where the facilities are logically a part of other Federal recreational facilities, as in national parks, operation and maintenance should be by the Federal Government. In order to make the most effective utilization of water power and in order to achieve the maximum power bene- fits from a water resource development it is highly de- sirable that power plants and transmission line systems be interconnected and operated sa as to realize the maxi- mum capacity and energy capabilities when integrated in the load of the market area in which the project is located. The marketing and generation of power from the Gov- ernment's Shasta, Bonneville, and Grand Coulee projects, are examples of such integration. IV. The Specific Lessons Learned Listed below are a few of the important lessons and conclusions resulting from a review of constructed projects: Over-All Conclusions as to Development Basin.-In developing the country's water resources, major river basins should be studied and treated as a whole so that to the greatest extent possible optimum re- sults, consistent with economic aspects, may be realized. Only by basin-wide treatment can assurance be had against the construction of projects which do not fulfill all of the purposes which may be desirable or projects which may be incorrectly located or be otherwise inade- quate, in size or type, to meet the needs of the area. A basin-wide plan, based on adequate basic data and study, will minimize conflicts and will afford the oppor- 413 |
