Title 33Navigation and Navigable WatersRelease 119-73not60

§707 Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner; Declaration of Purpose; Report to Congress; Appropriation

Title 33 › Chapter 15— FLOOD CONTROL › § 707

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner on the Pecos River in New Mexico are meant to control floods, help manage river flows, store and deliver water, reclaim land, and for other useful purposes. The reservoir must be used first for irrigation, second for flood control and river regulation, and third for other uses. The Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of the Army must tell Congress how much of the dam’s total cost is for flood control. That amount may be moved from the general Treasury into the reclamation fund and used to reduce the maximum amount the Carlsbad Irrigation District has to repay.

Full Legal Text

Title 33, §707

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner on the Pecos River, New Mexico, is authorized and declared to be for the purposes of controlling floods, regulating the flow of the Pecos River, providing for storage and for delivery of stored waters, for the reclamation of lands, and other beneficial uses, and said dam and reservoir shall be used, first, for irrigation; second, for flood control and river regulation; and third, for other purposes. The Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of the Army are directed to report to the Congress the amount of the total cost of said Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner which is properly allocable to flood control. The appropriation and transfer of such amount from the general fund of the Treasury to the reclamation fund, for credit by reduction of the maximum obligation of the Carlsbad Irrigation District to repay the total cost thereof, is authorized.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1974—Pub. L. 93–447 substituted “Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner” for “Alamogordo Dam and Reservoir” wherever appearing.

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July 26, 1947, was repealed by section 53 of act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 641.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 Department of the Army under administrative supervision of Secretary of the Army. Alamogordo Dam and Reservoir Redesignated as Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner Pub. L. 93–447, Oct. 17, 1974, 88 Stat. 1363, provided: “That the Alamogordo Dam and Reservoir, New Mexico, referred to in the Act of
August 11, 1939 (53 Stat. 1414) [which enacted this section], are redesignated as Sumner Dam and Lake Sumner, respectively. Any law, regulation, map, document, record, or other paper of the United States in which such dam or reservoir is referred to shall be held to refer to such dam as Sumner Dam or such reservoir as Lake Sumner.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

33 U.S.C. § 707

Title 33Navigation and Navigable Waters

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60