§621 Subjection of lands in State irrigation district to State laws generally

Summary

When a State has formed an irrigation district before August 11, 1916, or forms one later, and that district includes public lands of the United States, those public lands (when they can be entered and those entered lands without final certificates) that the Secretary of the Interior marks when approving the district map must follow the State’s irrigation laws. They are treated the same as similar privately owned land for organizing, running, and regulating irrigation to reclaim and water arid land for farming. The United States and people holding unpatented land under entry get the same rights, benefits, and exemptions that the State gives to private landowners of like land, except where this chapter says otherwise. This chapter does not apply to any irrigation district where more than half the land is unentered.