Central Utah Water Conservancy District repayment contract, Bonneville Unit, Central Utah Project

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10 But an earlier faxogram of March 9, 1979, carried an entirely dif­ferent argument which we read as contrary to Carter Water Policy. The opinion came by way of the regional solicitor. In it he states: ... In our view, the better course for the Department to follow, should it decide as a policy matter that the water users should pay less than full costs allocated to municipal and industrial uses, would be to seek specific authorization from Congress for such purposes... In summary, it is our opinion that (1) as the Secretary has already determined that Central Utah Project water users should repay all con­struction costs allocated to municipal and industrial water supply and the project was authorized by Congress on that basis, it is doubtful that the Secretary may now determine otherwise without Congressional approval; (2.) provided the matter of Congressional approval is satisfactorily resolved, revenues in the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund, including those derived from the sale of power may be used to repay project construction costs allocated to municipal and indus­trial water supply; and (3) the Bonneville Unit repayment con­tract between the Central Utah Water Conservancy District and the United States does not prohibit use of power revenues in the basin fund for repayment of costs allocated to municipal and industrial water supply. ADMINISTRATION POLICIES AND DIRECTIVES In a letter to you recently, Mr. Commissioner, we inquired of you whether the policy that is established here for the contract on the Bonne­ville Unit will become the standard policy for other projects in the Basin which may have to have renegotiated repayment contracts. Our concern is that rather than trying to outspend inflation, you should give serious con­sideration to the public input on these contract matters. We hear from Congress these days the cries for a balanced budget. We read in the papers about the hard financial times this country is facing. Your agency was recently taken to task in a GAO report concerning poor contracting practices in the water sale contract area. The complete renegotiation of this contract would give the Department the opportunity to implement all of these water policy directives and give the Administration's water policy, as well as its public participation pro­cedures, some meaning. As you have entered into this option stage with the Secretary we would like to remind you of some of these reforms that the Administration has fought for. To quote directly from the President's direc­tives concerning contracts in his Water Policy message he stated: -requiring development of water conservation programs as a condi­tion of contracts for storage or delivery of municipal and industrial water supplies from federal projects; -encouraging water conservation in the agricultural assistance pro­grams of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the In­terior which affect water consumption in water-short areas; and