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Show 428 As stated in the first section of one of these bills, and in sub- stantially identical words in the other, the purpose was:182 to develop, integrate, and coordinate plans, projects, and activities for or incidental to the promotion of naviga- tion, the control and prevention of floods, the safeguard- ing of navigable waters, and the reclamation of the pub- lic lands, in order to aid and protect commerce among the several States, to strengthen the national defense, to conserve the water, soil, mineral, and forest resources of the Nation, to stabilize employment and relieve un- employment, and otherwise to protect commerce among the States, provide for the national defense, and pro- mote the general welfare of the United States. 183 The regional plans contemplated by both bills were to include proj- ects and activities, both federal and nonfederal, which would be adapted to the "conservation and integrated development of water, soil and forest resources" for: (1) The promotion of navigation by means of channel im- provements, prevention of siltation, regulation of stream flow, development and coordination of navigation facilities and other means. (2) Flood con- trol by means of storage, control and disposition of surplus waters, control and retardation of water run-off, the restoration and improvement of the absorption and infiltration capacity of the soil and other means. (3) Safeguarding the use of navigable waters by means of pollution abate- ment, provision of water purification and sewage-disposal works and other means. (4) Reclamation of arid or swampy public lands by means of ir- rigation and drainage, the economic development and use of such lands, and other means. § 6a, H. R. 7365; § 8a, H. R. 7863. So far as consistent with the above purposes, these plans were to give due regard to: "(1) The present and future development and conservation of water for power, irrigation, and other beneficial uses; (2) the prudent husbandry of soil, mineral, and forest resources and their conservation for recreation, the protection of wild game, and other beneficial uses; (3) the urgency of preventing irreparable waste of the Nation's resources from droughts, winds, dust storms, and soil erosion; (4) the integration and interconnection of projects and activities, the development of their mul- tiple purposes, and the equitable distribution of the benefits thereof; (5) equitable contributions to cost by States and subdivisions and agencies thereof specially benefited by the projects and activities; (6) equitable con- tributions, from the revenues of a project or otherwise, to compensate States and subdivisions and agencies thereof for special losses, not offset or mitigated by benefits, which may be occasioned by the carrying out of proj- ects ; and (7) such economic, social, and cultural values as may be affected or furthered by the projects and activities." § 6b, H. R. 7365; § 8b, H. R. 7863. |