630

RIO GRANDE COMPACT

ARTICLE XIII

At the expiration of every five-year period after the effective date of this Compact, the Commission may, by unanimous consent, review any provisions hereof which are not substantive in character and which do not affect the basic principles upon which the Compact is founded, and shall meet for the consideration of such questions on the request of any member of the Commission; provided, however, that the provisions hereof shall remain in full force and effect until changed and amended within the intent of the Compact by unanimous action of the Commissioners and until any changes in this Compact are ratified by the legislatures of the respective states and consented to by the Congress, in the same manner as this Compact is required to be ratified to become effective.

ARTICLE XIV

The schedules herein contained and the quantities of water herein allocated shall never be increased nor diminished by reason of any increases or diminution in the delivery or loss of water to Mexico.

ARTICLE XV

The physical and other conditions characteristic of the Rio Grande and peculiar to the territory drained and served thereby, and to the development thereof, have actuated this Compact and none of the signatory states admits that any provisions herein contained establishes any general principle or precedent applicable to other interstate streams.

ARTICLE XVI

Nothing in this Compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the United States of America to Mexico under existing treaties or to the Indian tribes, or as impairing the rights of the Indian tribes.

ARTICLE XVII

This Compact shall become effective when ratified by the legislatures of each of the signatory States and consented to by the Congress of the United States. Notice of ratification shall be given by the Governor of each State to the Governors of the other States and to the President of the United States, and the President of the United States is requested to give notice to the Governors of each of the signatory States of the consent of the Congress of the United States.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Commissioners have signed this Compact in quadruplicate original, one of which shall be deposited in the archives of the Department of State of the United States of America and shall be deemed the authoritative original, and of which a duly certified copy shall be forwarded to the Governor of each of the signatory States.

RIO GRANDE COMPACT

Done at the City of Santa Fe, in the State of New Mexico, on the 18th day of March, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty-eight.

632

RELIEF TO WATER USERS

An act to authorize further relief to water users on United States reclamation projects and on Indian reclamation projects. (Act of May 31, 1939, ch. 156, 53 Stat. 792) [Sec. 1. Secretary of Interior authorized to determine if project unable to pay 1938 charges-Extension of time for payment-Charges so extended to be paid as Secretary determines.]—The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and directed to determine as to each United States and Indian reclamation project whether any of the water users' organizations or water users, as the case may be, owing construction charges to the United States on each such project are unable, due to partial crop failure attributable to a water shortage or due to other causes beyond the control of the water users, to pay without great hardship or undue burden the full amount of the construction charges due and payable for the calendar year 1938 and of any unpaid construction charges required to be paid as a condition precedent to delivery of water in 1939. Said Secretary shall base his determinations on such data furnished by water users' organizations and water users and on such investigations and reports by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Office of Indian Affairs as he deems necessary. As to any such water users' organization or water user who according to the said Secretary's determination is unable to pay in full the construction charges due and payable for the calendar year 1938 and any unpaid construction charges required to be paid as a condition precedent to delivery of water in 1939, said Secretary is hereby authorized to grant an extension of time for the payment of such proportion of said charges as in his judgment in each case is just and equitable: Provided, That said Secretary may make any extension granted pursuant to the authority of this Act subject to such conditions as in his judgment are desirable in the interest of the United States. The charges so extended shall be paid at such time or times as the said Secretary may determine. (53 Stat. 792)

Sec. 2. [Definitions.]-As used in this Act the term "United States reclamation project" shall mean any irrigation project constructed by the United States, or in connection with which there has been executed a repayment contract with the United States, pursuant to the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), or any Act amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto; the term "Indian reclamation project” shall mean any irrigation project constructed by the United States under the direction of the Office of Indian Affairs, or in connection with which there has been executed a repayment contract with the United States, pursuant to Acts of Congress relating to Indian reclamation projects; and the term "construction charges" shall mean the installments on the principal obligations due each year to the United States under water-right applications, repayment contracts, orders of the Secretary of the Interior, or other forms of obligations entered into pursuant to said Federal reclamation laws, or Acts of Congress relating to Indian reclamation projects. (53 Stat. 793)

634

RECLAMATION PROJECT ACT OF 1939

An act to provide a feasible and comprehensive plan for the variable payment of construction charges on United States reclamation projects, to protect the investment of the United States in such projects, and for other purposes. (Act of August 4, 1939, ch. 418, 53 Stat. 1187)

[Sec. 1. Repayment problems-Variable payments of construction charges— Revision of obligation to pay construction charges.]-For the purpose of providing for United States reclamation projects a feasible and comprehensive plan for an economical and equitable treatment of repayment problems and for variable payments of construction charges which can be met regularly and fully from year to year during periods of decline in agricultural income and unsatisfactory conditions of agriculture as well as during periods of prosperity and good prices for agricultural products, and which will protect adequately the financial interest of the United States in said projects, obligations to pay construction charges may be revised or undertaken pursuant to the provisions of this Act. (53 Stat. 1187; 43 U.S.C. § 485)

1. Purpose

NOTE OF OPINION

A principal purpose of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939 was to place water users repayment on a basis of payment

ability rather than to burden them with all costs. Solicitor Barry Opinion, 68 I.D. 305, 310 (1961), in re Columbia Basin repayment problems.

Sec. 2. [Definitions of terminology employed.]-As used in this Act(a) The term "Federal reclamation laws" shall mean the Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and all Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. (b) The term "Secretary" shall mean the Secretary of the Interior.

(c) The term "project" shall mean any reclamation or irrigation project, including incidental features thereof, authorized by the Federal reclamation laws, or constructed by the United States pursuant to said laws, or in connection with which there is a repayment contract executed by the United States, pursuant to said laws, or any project constructed or operated and maintained by the Secretary through the Bureau of Reclamation for the reclamation of arid lands or other purposes.

(d) The term "construction charges" shall mean the amounts of principal obligations payable to the United States under water-right applications, repayment contracts, orders of the Secretary, or other forms of obligation entered into pursuant to the Federal reclamation laws, excepting amounts payable for water rental or power charges, operation and maintenance and other yearly service charges, and excepting also any other operation and maintenance, interest, or other charges which are not covered into the principal sums of the construction accounts of the Bureau of Reclamation.

(e) The term "repayment contract" shall mean any contract providing for payment of construction charges to the United States.