PRIA Logo™
Title 16, ConservationRelease 119-110

§222 Administration, Concessions, and Privileges; Contracts for Sale of Water

Title 16 › CHAPTER 1 — NATIONAL PARKS, MILITARY PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND SEASHORES › SUBCHAPTER XXIV — GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK › § 222

Last updated Sep 23, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior must run and protect Grand Canyon National Park through the National Park Service, following the Act of August 25, 1916 that created the Park Service. Visitor services like hotels, camps, transportation, and other visitor privileges must be offered by public bidding to the best and most responsible bidder. The Secretary may also sell water found inside the park by contract to a nonprofit that Arizona law lets serve customers in Tusayan, Arizona. Any sale must not reduce United States water rights, must follow the requirements of section 9701 of title 31, must not harm park resources or visitors, and must include protections such as a right of immediate termination.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §222

Conservation, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The administration, protection, and promotion of Grand Canyon National Park shall be exercised under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, by the National Park Service, subject to the provisions of the Act of August twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled “An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes”. All concessions for hotels, camps, transportation, and other privileges of every kind and nature for the accommodation or entertainment of visitors shall be let at public bidding to the best and most responsible bidder. Under such terms and conditions as he deems advisable and consistent with the requirements of section 9701 of title 31, the Secretary is authorized, without derogation of any of the water rights of the United States and notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, to sell by contract water located within Grand Canyon National Park for the use of customers within Tusayan, Arizona, to a nonprofit entity authorized to receive and distribute water within Tusayan, Arizona by the laws of the State of Arizona, upon his determination that such sale is not detrimental to the protection of the resources of Grand Canyon National Park or its visitors and that appropriate measures to provide for such protection, including a right of immediate termination, are included in the transaction.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Act of August twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, entitled “An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes”, referred to in text, is act Aug. 25, 1916, ch. 408, 39 Stat. 535, known as the National Park Service Organic Act, which enacted section 1, 2, 3, and 4 of this title and provisions set out as a note under section 100101 of Title 54, National Park Service and Related Programs. Sections 1 to 4 of the Act were repealed and restated as section 1865(a) of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, and section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and section 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of Title 54 by Pub. L. 113–287, §§ 3, 4(a)(1), 7, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3094, 3260, 3272. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. For disposition of former sections of this title, see Disposition Table preceding section 100101 of Title 54. Codification “Section 9701 of title 31” substituted in text for “section 483a of title 31” on authority of Pub. L. 97–258, § 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of which enacted Title 31, Money and Finance.

Amendments

1978—Pub. L. 95–586 inserted provisions authorizing the Secretary to contract for the sale of water located within the park for use of customers within Tusayan, Arizona.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Special United States Magistrate Judge for Grand Canyon National ParkAppointment by United States District Court for the District of Arizona of a special commissioner [now United States magistrate judge] for the Grand Canyon National Park, see Pub. L. 86–258, Sept. 14, 1959, 73 Stat. 546, as amended, formerly set out as a note under section 631 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 222

Title 16, Conservation

Last Updated

Sep 23, 2026

Release point: 119-110