§390ee Pricing

Summary

The Secretary must make contracts with water districts that charge full cost (as defined in section 390bb(3)) for irrigation water to certain large landholdings. That includes any qualified recipient with more than 960 acres of class I land (or the equivalent), a limited recipient who was getting water on or before October 1, 1981 with more than 320 acres, and a limited recipient not getting water on or before October 1, 1981 for that person’s entire landholding. The interest rate used to figure full cost must be set by the Secretary of the Treasury as the arithmetic average of (A) the Treasury’s computed average interest rate on its marketable obligations that are neither due nor callable for 15 years, and (B) the weighted average of market yields on all interest-bearing marketable issues sold by the Treasury. Landholdings smaller than those above must get water under the pricing rules that were in Federal reclamation law immediately before October 12, 1982, or under the contract terms in effect before any amendment. The part of the price that covers operation and maintenance must be set under section 390hh. Lands under a recordable contract can receive water at less than full cost for no more than 10 years from the contract date if the contract existed before October 12, 1982, or no more than 5 years if entered after that date, or for the time in section 390rr where that applies. The right to less-than-full-cost water cannot end sooner than 18 months after the Secretary restarts processing or approval of the land’s disposition.