OCR Text |
Show 542 Navigation and Flood-Control Projects.-In the 1944 Flood Control Act, Congress included this pronouncement of policy:264 In connection with the exercise of jurisdiction over the rivers of the Nation through the construction of works of improvement, for navigation or flood control, as herein authorized, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to recognize the interests and rights of the States in determining the development of the watersheds within their borders and likewise their interests and rights in water utilization and control, as herein authorized to preserve and protect to the fullest possible extent established and potential uses, for all purposes, of the waters of the Nation's rivers; to facili- tate the consideration of projects on a basis of compre- hensive and coordinated development; and to limit the authorization and construction of navigation works to those in which a substantial benefit to navigation will be realized therefrom and which can be operated consist- ently with appropriate and economic use of the waters of such rivers by other users. In conformity with that policy, Congress prescribed measures for cooperation with "affected" states, the details of which we have already set forth.265 The policy quoted above and the procedures prescribed for cooperation relate to improvements for navigation and for flood control. In addition, Congress at the same time enacted the following restriction on navigation use:aM The use for navigation, in connection with the opera- tion and maintenance of such works herein authorized for construction, of waters arising in States lying wholly or partly west of the ninety-eighth meridian shall be only such use as does not conflict with any beneficial consumptive use, present or future, in States lying wholly or partly west of the ninety-eighth meridian, of 264 Act of December 22,1944, § 1, 58 Stat. 887. 285 See supra, pp. 96-97, 520-522. 2M§l(b),58 Stat. 889. |