§2212 Availability of Water on Temporary Basis

Summary

The Secretary can temporarily supply project or nonproject water and let people use federal Reclamation storage and delivery facilities, inside or outside a project area, to help reduce losses from drought. Any temporary water contract ends no later than two years after it is signed or sooner if the Secretary decides the water is no longer needed. The contract must be paid back during its term. If land was not already covered by Reclamation ownership, acreage, or pricing rules, getting temporary water will not make those rules apply to that land. If land already had those rules, it stays under them. These temporary contracts are not treated as the same kind of “contract” used in certain parts of the Reclamation Reform Act, and changes to existing contracts to allow these supplies do not count as new benefits under that Act. The price for temporary project water must cover federal operation, maintenance, and administrative costs and a fair share of capital costs and interest; water to nonproject land must be charged full cost. Interest rates for capital costs are set either by the Treasury using recent market yields for one‑year remaining securities, by the rate already authorized for the project, or by a Treasury rate based on obligations not callable for 15 years depending on when construction began. Water for fish and wildlife can be supplied without repayment and can be stored or sent for state, federal, or private habitat, inside or outside project areas; the 1991 Central Valley Project delivery to the Grasslands Water District was nonreimbursable. Nonproject water may be stored or conveyed for municipal, industrial, agricultural, or fish and wildlife uses; except for fish and wildlife, users must pay the rate set as above. Payments for capital costs go into the Reclamation Fund and are credited to the project that provided the water or facilities.