OCR Text |
Show took responsibility for the control, improvement, and protection of navigable waters. Similarly but later, responsibility for con- trol of floods on a national scale was assumed. Making clearer the adequacy of federal power to discharge these functions, the courts sustained assertions of federal authority in the upper nonnavigable reaches of navigable waterways to protect the navigable capacity of navigable waters and to protect interstate commerce from flood damage. In the West, where great areas of public-domain lands are located, the aridity frequently prevailing led to invocation of federal proprietary power to enable federal undertaking of irri- gation responsibility. But while limited to the West, irriga- tion benefits from federal projects have not been confined to public lands. In addition, federal authority has been exercised to license nonfederal development of power on lands and in waters subject to the jurisdiction of Congress, and it has been increasingly em- ployed to enable federal development of hydroelectric power as a part of navigation, flood-control, and irrigation projects. And power has given impetus to the growth of multiple-purpose projects. Under existing legislation, many such projects comprehend activities serving other public purposes, such as drainage, water supply, fish and wildlife preservation, recreation, sediment con- trol, and salinity control. Still other related public purposes receiving legislative attention include shore protection, pollu- tion control and abatement, and collection of basic data. In addition, from the numerous laws implementing federal participation in the promotion of proper use of land, we must select and examine those significantly related to development, utilization, and conservation of water resources. For the inter- relationships among land and water resources are expressly rec- ognized in many statutes. Other statutes, while not expressly aimed at land and water as inseparable resources, are neverthe- less adaptable to serving both. While many of the foregoing statutes have emphasized vari- ous primary and complementary purposes, the natural unity between a river system and its watershed has been accorded |