| OCR Text |
Show program investment, and payment in lieu of local and State taxes which would have been paid on acquired properties; (b) for drainage, irrigation, and watershed management it should be based on ability to pay, without interest, measured by the resulting increase in the land operator's net earn- ings; (c) for navigation it should be determined in connection with a general program for putting charges for all forms of transportation on a cost basis, including interest; (d) for all other bene- fits, the responsibility for securing repayment of the cost of primary and secondary benefits should be shared by the States on an agreed basis, while general welfare benefits should be the responsi- bility of the Federal Government. 26. The Federal contribution to the cost of a river basin program or project should be con- sidered as balancing the contributions to the gen- eral welfare estimated to result from the undertaking. 27. Congress, in appropriating for basin pro- grams, should distinguish between the portions of the total investment allocable to the different benefits on the basis of proposals by the basin commissions, passed upon by the Board of Review. Multipurpose program accounts should be established for each basin and for the national water resources program as a whole to assure clear identification of all costs, benefits, and repay- ments. 28. Irrigation projects should be placed on the same basis as other water resources projects for which full reimbursement is not required as a test of feasibility. Water Resources Management 29. Ground water resources should be included in comprehensive basin programs, with clear rec- ognition of their interrelationship with surface waters, and with due regard to the rights and interests of the States. The Federal Government should encourage enactment of State laws and negotiation of interstate compacts that foster water management for optimum yield and use, especially with respect to surface and ground water storage opportunities. 30. Watershed management should be in- cluded as a principal objective in the planning and development of basin programs, with large enough allotments of funds to enable soil con- servation, range management, and forest agen- cies to undertake activities which will bring economically controllable deterioration of the land under control within a reasonable period of time. 31. All related Federal policies and activi- ties, including the price support, agricultural conservation, irrigation, credit programs, and administration of Federal mining laws should be adjusted to strengthen the effectiveness of watershed management. 32. Flood control should be considered as an important part of water resources management. Conservation storage of floodwaters in the soil, underground, and in surface reservoirs on tribu- taries and upper reaches of rivers should be a principal factor in the planning and development of river basin programs. 33. Consistent with other aspects of the basin program, flood storage should be located and designed to assure the greatest possible use and reuse of floodwaters in the course of their journey to the sea. 34. Congress should authorize the responsible Federal agencies, in reviewing river basin pro- grams, to consider all of the possibilities of flood protection, flood storage, and utilization of flood- waters. They should consider such measures as local flood protection works, flood plain zoning, flood forecasting, design of levees and related works to release sediment-laden water on the land where this would contribute to fertility of the soil. They should also consider all types and combina- tions of reservoirs designed to meet the Nation's requirements in all fields of water utilization. Land Reclamation 35. An over-all program should be prepared for the employment of all methods for orderly ex- pansion of agricultural production to meet the Nation's expanding needs. This program should coordinate irrigation, drainage, flood control, 13 |
