§620c Laws Governing; Irrigation Repayment Contracts; Time for Making Contract; Contracts for Municipal Water; Payment by Indian Lands; Restricted Delivery of Water for Excess Commodity; Apportionments of Use

Summary

The Secretary must follow the Federal reclamation laws when building, running, and caring for the Colorado River storage project and the listed participating projects, unless this chapter says otherwise. Irrigation repayment contracts must be signed and generally must let project users pay back costs in not more than 50 years (not counting any allowed development time), except for the Paonia and Eden projects. Before irrigation distribution works are built, repayment contracts must be made with an “organization” (see section 485a(g)) that can tax all taxable property in its area to help repay, unless a large share of the land served is owned by the United States. Municipal water contracts can ignore the limit in section 485h(c). Payments for construction on Indian lands must match the land’s ability to repay and follow 25 U.S.C. 386a. For ten years from April 11, 1956, no water from these projects may be used on newly irrigated land to grow basic agricultural commodities (as defined in the Agricultural Act of 1949) if the total supply for the crop’s marketing year is above the “normal supply” in 7 U.S.C. 1301(b)(10), unless the Secretary of Agriculture orders more production for national security. All projects must follow the water-sharing rules between the Upper and Lower Colorado Basins in the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, and the treaty with the United Mexican States.