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Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§590z–1 Prerequisites for construction of project

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 3C— - WATER CONSERVATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - CONSERVATION AND UTILIZATION PROJECTS › § 590z–1

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

No project can begin under this law until the Secretary investigates it and sends a report to the President. The report must cover whether the project is engineeringly feasible, the estimated total cost, and how that cost should be split among uses. That includes allocations for irrigation (including Indian trust and tribal lands), the portion likely repayable by water users under section 590z–2, amounts for municipal or other water supplies or power that could return revenue to the United States, and any part for flood control after consulting the Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army. Actual building work cannot start until the Secretary finds that needed lands or land rights are bought or that there is good progress to secure them with satisfactory titles and prices. The Secretary must also find that water rights have been acquired or started and can be perfected and used under State law and any interstate agreements in a way the Secretary finds satisfactory. The Secretary may split a project into divisions after consulting the Secretary of Agriculture. Projects funded from the 1940 water conservation appropriation can be made subject to these rules by agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture, except they do not need the investigations and land/water findings described above.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §590z–1

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)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.
(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) 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).

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The head “Water Conservation Utility Projects” in the Interior Department Appropriation Act, 1940 [ch. 119] (53 Stat. 685), referred to in subsec. (c), was not classified to the Code.

Amendments

1943—Subsec. (a)(vii). Act
July 16, 1943, § 2, inserted “Secretary after consultation with the” after “as recommended”. Subsec. (b). Act
July 16, 1943, § 3, amended subsec. (b) generally. Subsec. (c). Act
July 16, 1943, § 4, added subsec. (c). 1940—Act Oct. 14, 1940, reenacted section.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Department of War designated Department of the Army and title of Secretary of War changed to Secretary of the Army by section 205(a) of act
July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, 61 Stat. 501. section 205(a) of act
July 26, 1947, was repealed by section 53 of act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 641. section 1 of act Aug. 10, 1956, enacted “Title 10, Armed Forces” which in sections 3010 to 3013 continued military Department of the Army under administrative supervision of Secretary of the Army.

Construction

With Section 701–1 of Title 33Section as amended and modified by act Dec. 22, 1944, ch. 665, § 1(c), 58 Stat. 665, see section 701–1(c) of Title 33, Navigation and Navigable Waters.

Transfer of Functions

Functions of Federal Works Agency transferred to General Services Administration by act June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title I, § 103, 63 Stat. 380. See

Historical and Revision Notes

under section 303(b) of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works. section 303(b) of Title 40 was amended generally by Pub. L. 109–313, § 2(a)(1), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1734, and, as so amended, no longer relates to the Federal Works Agency and Commissioner of Public Buildings. See 2006 Amendment note under section 303 of Title 40.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Works Projects Administration and its functions transferred to Federal Works Agency by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1939, §§ 301, 306, eff. July 1, 1939, 4 F.R. 2729, 53 Stat. 1426, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 590z–1

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73