| OCR Text |
Show A Bill To provide a comprehensive and adequate water resources basic- data program Be it enacted by the Senate- and House of Representative of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the " National Water Resources Basic- Data Act of 1950." OBJECTIVES SEC. 2. It is the purpose of this Act to establish a comprehensive and adequate basic- data program in water resources and provide for its maintenance in order that the full potential of the Nation's water resources may be developed for all beneficial uses and that there may be adequate hydrologic and geologic data for the effective control, prevention, or reduction of the harmful or destructive powers of water. SEC. 3. To effectuate the purposes of this Act there is hereby authorized and established a national water resources basic- data program, which shall include - ( a) the determination of the rates, geographic distribution, and the gross volumes of precipitation, the frequency in which varying seasonal amounts of precipitation « recur, and the rates, variability, and amounts of potential evaporation and transpiration as determined by meteorological forces and factors. For these purposes the Secretary of Commerce is authorized to - ( 1) establish, operate, and maintain such instruments and stations as will reliabily sample and measure the full range of meteorological elements involved and employ such other methods and devices as will accomplish these purposes accurately and effectively; ( 2) process, summarize, and analyze existing data; conduct or otherwise provide for such other research as will effectively identify, measure, appraise, and interpret the effects of meteorologic, topographic, and other forces and factors on the amounts, geographic distribution, and frequency of precipitation and of meteorologic forces and factors on the amount and geographic variations in potential evaporation and transpiration; ( 3) develop and maintain a systematic quantitative account of the gross water supply in the form of precipitation; ( b) the determination of the volumes and amounts of water in streams, lakes, reservoirs, and underground formations, the changes and variability of water supplies with time and chemical and physical properties of water. For these purposes the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to- ( 1) establish and maintain stream- gaging stations, sediment- and water- sampling stations, observation wells, laboratories, instruments, and such other devices and methods as will effectively measure the amounts and determine the source, movement, storage, and quality of surface and underground waters; ( 2) process, summarize, and analyze existing data; engage in research on the effects of topographic, geologic, and other features and factors on the flow, accumulation, and recoverable net supply of surface and underground waters, on the dislodgement, transportation, and deposition of sediments, on mineral content, and on other characteristics of water; and 31 |
