No construction of a project may be undertaken pursuant to the authority of this subchapter unless and until the Secretary has made an investigation thereof and has submitted to the President his report and findings on—
(i) the engineering feasibility of the proposed construction;
(ii) the estimated cost of the proposed construction;
(iii) the part of the estimated cost which properly can be allocated to irrigation;
(iv) the part of the estimated cost which probably can be repaid by the water users in accordance with the requirements of section 590z–2 of this title;
(v) the part of the estimated cost which can properly be allocated to municipal or miscellaneous water supplies or power and probably be returned to the United States in revenues therefrom;
(vi) the part of the estimated cost which can properly be allocated to the irrigation of Indian trust and tribal lands, and be repayable in accordance with existing law relating to Indian lands;
(vii) the part of the estimated cost which can properly be allocated to flood control as recommended by the Secretary after consultation with the Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army.
In connection with each such investigation, report, and finding, the Secretary shall consult with the Secretary of Agriculture regarding participation in the proposed project by the Department of Agriculture under the authority of sections 590z–3 and 590z–4 of this title; and the Secretary shall also transmit to the President a report by the Secretary of Agriculture to the President on the participation, if any, proposed by the Department of Agriculture. The project shall be deemed authorized and may be undertaken pursuant to this subchapter if (1) the Secretary finds and certifies to the President that the project has engineering feasibility and that the water users probably can repay, in accordance with the requirements of section 590z–2 of this title an amount equal to or in excess of that part of the estimated cost allocated by him to irrigation to be met by expenditure of moneys appropriated pursuant to section 590z–10(1) of this title; 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 Works 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) of this title, 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 of this title.
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.
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 of this title, 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 [ch. 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 this subchapter, 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; July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, §205(a), 61 Stat. 501.)
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Last modified: October 26, 2015