OCR Text |
Show 494 tional step in the conception and execution of a program of multiple-purpose project development. In other words, our purpose here is to summarize comparatively the principal por- tions of the law applicable to preparing for projects, to the review and authorization of plans and projects, to their design and construction, their financing, and their operation and main- tenance. In addition, we shall summarily refer to certain significant aspects of other programs related to the develop- ment of projects. Moreover, we shall see that on one matter, one body of law may be silent while another is explicit. For the development of the law applicable to the various purposes and agencies is by no means coextensive. Reference to administrative practice in such cases will be informative. Preparing for Projects Three segregable aspects of preparation will be considered here: the collection of data, program development, and project evaluation. Collection of Data.-Common sense dictates the need for collection in usable form of physical and other data as a pre- requisite to activities seeking to develop, utilize, or conserve water resources. Such physical data include topographic and geologic maps; soil and mineral surveys; hydrologie data on precipitation, snow pack, snow melt, stream flow, and ground-water conditions; and meteorological data on tempera- tures and evaporation. Need for other data may extend to such matters as population trends, industrial and agricultural activities and opportunities, transportation, and power re- quirements and markets. Provision has been made in numerous statutes for the col- lection of such data by several federal agencies. The more significant of these were grouped and reviewed in the chapter Other Public Purposes.1 While there is thus no need to re- U of those provisions, we should mention here certain ' ^atures. 342-348. |