by him to irrigation to be met by expenditure of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 590z-10 (1); and (2) the President has approved said report and findings and has found that services, labor, materials, easements, and other property, including money, for the construction of the project, should be made available to the Department of the Interior by the Work Projects Administration or other Federal agencies, to the extent found necessary by the Secretary to make up the difference between the estimated cost of project construction and (i) the part thereof to be met by expenditure of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 590z-10 (1), together with (ii) such services, materials, money, easements, and other property as non-Federal agencies or parties have agreed to contribute and the Secretary has found acceptable under section 590z.

(b) No actual construction of the physical features of a project shall be undertaken unless and until (1) the Secretary has found that lands, or interests in lands, deemed necessary for the construction and operation of the major features of the projects have been secured, or sufficient progress made in their procurement to indicate the probability that all these lands or interests in lands can be secured, with titles and at prices satisfactory to him; and (2) the Secretary has found (i) that water rights adequate for the purposes of the project have been acquired with titles and at prices satisfactory to him, or that such water rights have been initiated and in his judgment can be perfected in conformity with State law and any applicable interstate agreements and in a manner satisfactory to him; and (ii) that such water rights can be utilized for the purposes of the project in conformity with State law and any applicable interstate agreements and in a manner satisfactory to him.

(c) Any part of a project hereunder may be designated as a division of the project by the Secretary if he, after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, deems this desirable for orderly and efficient construction or administration. The term "project", as used in subsection (b) of this section and section 590z-2, shall be deemed to mean also "division of a project", designated as provided in this subsection. Any project authorized for construction from appropriations under the head "Water Conservation and Utility Projects" in the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1940 [c. 119] (53 Stat. 685), hereinafter called the 1940 water conservation appropriation, may be designated by the Secretary, upon agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture, a project under sections 590y to 590z-10 of this title, and shall thereupon be subject to all the provisions and requirements thereof, except those of subsections (a) and (b) of this section. (Aug. 11, 1939, ch. 717, § 3, 53 Stat. 1419; Oct. 14, 1940, ch. 861, 54 Stat. 1120; July 16, 1943, ch. 242, §§ 2-4, 57 Stat. 567.)

NOTE. Subsection (a) of section 590z-1 relating to initiation of projects has been amended by section 1 (c) of the act of Dec. 22, 1944, 58 Stat. 889, relative to approval of reports on proposed projects.

NOTE.-The item "Water Conservation and Utility Project" in Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1940 (53 Stat. 685, 719, ch. 119) cited to text, provides as follows:

"For construction, in addition to labor and materials to be supplied by the Works Progress Administration, of water conservation and utilization projects, including acquisition of water rights, rights-of-way, and other interests in land, in the Great Plains and arid and semiarid areas of the United States, to be immediately available, $5,000,000, to be allocated by the President, in such amounts as he deems necessary, to such Federal Departments, establishments, and other agencies as he may designate, and to be reimbursed to the United States by the water user on such projects in not to exceed forty annual installments: Provided, That expenditures from Works Progress Administration funds shall be subject to such provisions with respect to reimbursability as the President may determine."

The following provisions appear under the same item in the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1941, 54 Stat. 406 at p. 438:

"The appropriation of $5,000,000 contained in the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1940, is hereby made available until expended and may be expended in the same manner and for the same objects of expenditure as specified hereinbefore in this Act under the headings "Salaries and expenses" and "Administrative provisions and limitations" under the caption "Bureau of Reclamation," but without regard to the limitations therein set forth.

"It is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress that, in the opening to entry of newly irrigated public lands, preference shall be given to families who have no other means of earning a livelihood, or who have been compelled to abandon, through no fault of there own, other farms in the United States, and with respect to whom it appears after careful study, in the case of each such family, that there is a probability that such family will be able to earn a livelihood on such irrigated lands."

§ 590z-2. Repayment contracts; necessity; terms, reimbursable construction costs defined.-(a) No water for irrigation may be delivered from the works of any project constructed under the authority of sections 590y to 590z-10 of this title until after the repayment contract or contracts required by this section_have been executed. Where practicable in the judgment of the Secretary, the repayment contract shall be with a water users' organization or organizations satisfactory in form and powers to the Secretary; and otherwise the repayment contract shall be with the individual landowners. The contract or contracts shall contain such provisions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the purposes of sections 590y-590z-10 of this title and to protect the interests of the United States.

(b) The term "reimbursable construction costs" as used in sections 590y to 590z-10 of this title means that part of the costs of investigating, constructing, and operating and maintaining the project, which are allocated by the Secretary to irrigation, and which are met by expenditures of moneys therefor appropriated under the authority of section 590z-10 (1), plus such amounts as the President, under section 590z (1), may determine to be reimbursable; Provided, That administrative expenses incurred in the District of Columbia in connection with the investigation, construction, or operation and maintenance of a project shall not be included in the reimbursable construction costs nor shall they be charged to the water users in any way.

(c) The repayment contract or contracts for a project shall, in their aggregate, provide for repayment to the United States of the total amount of the reimbursable construction costs of the project allocated to irrigation. Each such contract shall provide, among other things, that

(1) The Secretary shall fix a development period for each project of not to exceed ten years from and including the first

calendar year in which water is delivered for the lands in said project; and during the development period water shall be delivered to the lands in the project involved at a charge per acrefoot, or other charge, to be fixed by the Secretary each year and to be paid in advance of delivery of water. Such charges shall be fixed with a view of returning such amounts as in the Secretary's judgment are justified by the rate of project development, including as a minimum the return over the full development period of that part of the cost of operating and maintaining the project, during said period, allocated by the Secretary to irrigation; and collections of such charges in excess of the cost of the operation and maintenance during the development period, as thereafter determined by the Secretary, shall be credited to the reimbursable construction costs of the project in the manner determined by the Secretary.

(2) The United States shall operate and maintain the project during the development period fixed for it. After the development period, the United States shall operate and maintain the project or any part thereof as long as is deemed necessary by the Secretary, and shall be paid in advance for each year that part of the estimated cost of operating and maintaining the project for such year allocated by the Secretary to irrigation. In the event charges due the United States are not paid when due the United States may, at its election, suspend operations in whole or in part.

(3) The repayment of the reimbursable construction costs, except as to Indian lands which shall be repayable in accordance with existing law relating to Indian lands, shall be spread in not to exceed forty annual installments, of the number and amounts fixed by the Secretary; and the first annual installment under each contract shall become due and payable on the date fixed by the Secretary, in the year next following the last year of the development period fixed under subsection (c) (1): Provided, That the provisions of this subsection shall not be construed to modify the provisions of special legislation pertaining to any particular project.

(4) The water users or their organization will take such measures as the Secretary deems proper to secure the adoption of proper accounting, to protect the condition of project works, and to provide for the proper use thereof, and to protect project lands against deterioration due to improper use of water. Delinquencies in any payments due to the United States shall be penalized by a penalty of not less than one-half of 1 per centum per month. No water shall be delivered to or for any land or party while either said land or the organization in which it is located or said party is in arrears in the advance payment of operation and maintenance charges or development period charges under subsection (c) (1), or in arrears for more than twelve months in the payment of an installment of the reimbursable construction costs.

(5) The Secretary shall establish the size of farm units of irrigable lands on each project in accordance with his findings of the area sufficient in size for the support of a family on the

lands to be irrigated. No water may be delivered to or for more than the farm unit area of irrigable lands in the project owned by a single landowner: Provided, That this subsection shall not apply to the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, corporate or otherwise. No water shall be delivered to or for any land, in a project area, transferred or disposed of subsequent to approval of the project by the President, and within three years from the time water becomes available, unless and until it has been shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary or his duly authorized representative that the land has been transferred or disposed of at a price not exceeding the appraised value as determined by the Secretary or his duly authorized representatives, and upon proof of fraudulent representation as to the true consideration involved the Secretary is authorized to cancel the water right attaching to the land involved: Provided further, That nothing in sections 590y to 590z-10 of this title shall be construed to create authority to interfere with the delivery of water under prior rights.

(d) For each project, on which construction is commenced or continued under this subsection, appropriations heretofore or hereafter made pursuant to section 590z-10 and the unexpended balance of the 1940 water conservation appropriation, in addition to being available for other authorized objects of expenditure, shall be available for expenditure, by the agency to which available, in lieu of the "services, labor, materials, or other property, including money", authorized to be utilized under section 590z and subsection 590z-3 (b). All expenditures on each such project may be excluded (1) from the project construction costs to the extent the Secretary finds necessary to keep the reimbursable costs within the findings made under subsections 590z-1 (a) (iv, v, vi), and (2) from the costs that but for this subsection would be required to be returned under section 590z-3, to the extent deemed necessary by the Secretary of Agriculture for the successful prosecution of the project; and as to each such project the limitations on expenditures provided in sections 590y and 590z-7 shall be inoperative. Appropriations made pursuant to section 590z-10 shall be available for expenditures for continuation of costruction on any project heretofore undertaken under the 1940 water conservation appropriation, and such expenditures and those from the 1940 water conservation appropriation may be excluded from the costs of any such project in determining the amounts required to be reimbursed, to the extent the Secretary and the Secretary of Agriculture jointly determine is necessary to keep reimbursable costs within the ability of the water users to repay. No project may be initiated for construction or, if heretofore authorized, continued under this subsection unless the Secretary, following consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, finds that the proposed construction under this subsection is justifiable as an aid in the production of needed agricultural products and the President approves said finding. The utilization of services or labor of prisoners of war under section 590z is authorized, subject to the approval of, and regulations by, the War Department or other Federal agency having

control of said prisoners. From and after the date six months after the cessation of hostilities in the present war as determined by proclamation of the President or concurrent resolution of the Congress, this subsection shall no longer be of any force or effect except as to projects on which construction has been initiated or continued under this subsection prior to said date. (Aug. 11, 1939, ch. 717, § 4, as added Oct. 14, 1940, ch. 861, 54 Stat. 1121; July 16, 1943, ch. 242, § 5, 57 Stat. 567.)

§ 590z-3. Settlement of projects on agricultural basis; advice to settlers; acquisition and improvement of agricultural lands; utilization of other agencies. (a) In connection with the construction or operation and maintenance of projects undertaken pursuant to the authority of sections 590y to 590z-10 of this title, and in order to further in the Great Plains and arid and semiarid areas of the United States an effective rehabilitation program, stabilization of the agricultural economy and maximum utilization of funds spent for relief purposes, the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized, pursuant to cooperative agreement with the Secretary of the Interior, (1) to arrange for the settlement of the projects on a sound agricultural basis, and insofar as practicable, the location thereon of persons in need; (2) to extend guidance and advice to settlers thereon in matters of farm practice, soil conservation, and efficient land use; (3) to acquire agricultural lands within the boundaries of such projects, with titles and at prices satisfactory to him; and (4) to arrange for the improvement of lands within the project boundaries, including clearing, leveling, and preparing them for distribution of irrigation water. Contracts between the United States and water users or water users' organizations for the lease or purchase of, or the improvement of, lands within such projects shall provide for annual or semiannual payments to the United States, of the number and amounts fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture. The lease, purchase, or improvement contracts for each tract of land shall provide in the aggregate for the return, in not to exceed fifty years from the date the land is first settled upon, of the costs incurred by the United States in acquiring and improving such tract of land with funds appropriated under authority of section 590z-10 (2), except administrative expenses incurred in the District of Columbia, together with interest on unpaid balances of said costs at not less than 3 per centum per annum. Such lease, purchase, or improvement contracts shall also provide for the fulfillment of such obligations related to reimbursable construction costs and operation and maintenance charges as may be applicable to such lands in accordance with the repayment contract or contracts required by section 590z-2.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the Secretary of Agriculture may utilize (1) in such manner as the President may direct, services, labor, materials, or other property, including money, supplied by the Work Projects Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Office of Indian Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, or any other Federal agency to the extent that the President, upon the report and recommendations