use of net power revenues from the Palisades and American Falls power developments.

Copies of the proposed report of the Secretary of the Interior were transmitted to the States of the Columbia River Basin and to the Secretary of the Army in accordance with the provisions of section 1 (c) of the Flood Control Act of 1944 (58 Stat. 887) and to the State of Idaho for comments from the head of the agency exercising administration over the wildlife resources of that State in accordance with the provisions of the act of August 14, 1946 (60 Stat. 1080). Copies of the report were sent also to the agencies represented on the Federal Inter-Agency River Basin Committee for their comments. Comments have been received from all States and agencies to which the report was sent and copies are attached.

The report and copies of all comments were transmitted to the President. A copy of the July 23, 1954, letter from the Director of the Bureau of the Budget is enclosed.

Sincerely yours,

An act to provide for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the Michaud Flats project for irrigation in the State of Idaho. (Act of August 31, 1954, 68 Stat. 1026, Public Law 741, 83d Cong., 2d sess.)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct, maintain, and operate the Michaud Flats project for irrigation in the State of Idaho substantially in accordance with the plans set forth in the report of the Bureau of Reclamation Regional Director of Region 1, dated October 22, 1953, with such modifications as the Commissioner of Reclamation, with the approval of the Secretary, may find proper in order to provide for the most efficient accomplishment of all the purposes of such plans. Such construction, maintenance, and operation shall be in accordance with the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902, 32 Stat. 388, and Acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto) as far as such laws are not inconsistent with the provisions of section 2 of this Act.

SEC. 2. The project's water users shall be required to assume an obligation to repay out of that part of the total construction cost of the project which the Secretary determines to be properly allocable to irrigation, so much as the Secretary finds to be within their ability to repay prior to the time when, account being taken of the application of power revenues as provided in part (b) of this section, full return of the irrigation allocation is accomplished. Such repayment shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Federal reclamation laws as modified with respect to the Michaud Flats project by the following:

(a) Payments by the contracting organization shall be scheduled, under a contract conforming to the provisions of this Act, on the basis of uniform charges for like classes of land in each

unit of such project which will result in the establishment of annual installments which are, as nearly as practicable, of an amount equal to the ability of such water users to pay in each year having regard to the volume of production of such water users, prices they receive for their farm products, and their production and living costs.

(b) Net power revenues received from the Palisades project, Idaho, and any developments combined therewith for payout purposes under the provisions of the second sentence of section 2 of the Act of September 30, 1950 (64 Stat. 1083), shall, after payout of said projects is accomplished pursuant to law, be applied (concurrently with continued payments by the water users) to payment of the irrigation allocation of the Michaud Flats project until full repayment of said allocation is accomplished.

(c) The Secretary of the Interior shall require that a replacement reserve of an amount sufficient to meet replacement costs likely to be incurred before the end of the repayment period established under the provisions of part (a) above, shall be established and maintained in connection with such Michaud Flats project.

SEC. 3. (a) To aid in the development of not more than twentyone thousand acres of irrigable land in the Michaud division of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, as heretofore authorized by the Act of February 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1061), and hereby reauthorized for construction, operation, and maintenance without regard to the provisions of said Act, the Secretary is authorized

(1) to reserve for the benefit of those lands when needed, but without prejudice to the interim use thereof for other purposes proper under reclamation laws, eighty-three thousand and nine hundred acre-feet of storage capacity in Palisades Reservoir and forty-seven thousand and seven hundred acre-feet of that portion of the storage capacity in American Falls Reservoir which was set aside for lands in the Michaud area generally by section 3 of the Act of September 30, 1950 (64 Stat. 1083); and

(2) to account for the return of so much of the cost of said development (including the cost of the aforesaid storage space in Palisades and American Falls Reservoirs) as the Secretary finds cannot be repaid by the water users on terms substantially similar to those provided in section 2 of this Act, except for the application of the provisions of the Act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 564), and the Act of March 1, 1907 (34 Stat. 1015, 1024), which are specifically made applicable to the project authorized by this section and Indian lands susceptible of irrigation under said project, by application of net power revenues of the Palisades project and any developments combined therewith for payout purposes under the provisions of the second sentence of section 2 of the Act of September 30, 1950, after payout thereof is accomplished pursuant to law.

(b) Construction of works to serve the Michaud division lands shall be undertaken only if, in consideration thereof and of the additional benefits authorized in the preceding sentence of this

section, such appropriate arrangements as may be required in the circumstances are first made, by contract or otherwise, with respect to a water supply for said lands which, among other things(1) limit that supply to the yield of the space in Palisades and American Falls Reservoirs as hereinbefore set forth and to that obtained by the pumping of ground water in an average annual amount of not more than twenty-two thousand and four hundred acre-feet; and

(2) consent to a priority in time and right in such beneficial consumptive uses of the waters of the Snake River, and its tributaries, as are established under the laws of the State of Idaho prior to the date of this Act as against any use of the waters arising on or flowing through the Fort Hall Bottoms within the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, including, but not limited to, the intercepted flow of Ross Fork Creek, the Portneuf River below Pocatello, Big Jimmy Creek, Big Spring Creek, and Clear Creek, for the irrigation of the lands of the Michaud division of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. The United States consents to the making of the arrangements aforesaid, and its construction, operation, and maintenance of said works shall constitute a waiver of any of its rights to the use of waters arising on or flowing through the Fort Hall Bottoms within the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, including, but not limited to, the intercepted flow of Ross Fork Creek, the Portneuf River below Pocatello, Big Jimmy Creek, Big Spring Creek, and Clear Creek, for the irrigation of the lands in the Michaud division of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

SEC. 4. The Act of February 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1061), authorizing the development of the Michaud division of the Fort Hall irrigation project is hereby repealed.

SEC. 5. In crediting the net power revenues from the Palisades project to the projects authorized in sections 2 and 3 of this Act, after payout of the Palisades project pursuant to law, said revenues shall be applied ratably to the two projects in proportion to the total construction costs thereof.

SEC. 6. (a) Except as provided in section 3 (b), nothing in this Act shall affect any rights in and to the waters of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation or the Snake River and its tributaries.

(b) Nothing in this Act shall affect the land tenure, allotment, or ownership on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

SEC. 7. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $5,500,000 for construction of the works authorized in section 1 of this Act, and $5,500,000 for construction of the works authorized in section 3 of this Act, plus such additional amount, if any, as may be required by reason of changes in the costs of construction of the types involved in these projects, as shown by engineering indices. There are also authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be required for the operation and maintenance of said works.

MIDDLE RIO GRANDE PROJECT

NEW MEXICO

The Middle Rio Grande project was originally authorized under the Flood Control Act of 1944 and completion was authorized by the Flood Control Act approved May 17, 1950 (64 Stat. 163). The Commissioner's finding of feasibility was adopted by the Secretary on April 22, 1948.

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, Washington, D. C., November 21, 1947.

THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

SIR: Transmitted herewith for your approval is a report dated August 20, 1947, on a plan for the development of the Middle Rio Grande project, New Mexico. This has been prepared as a departmental report under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation. The plan, which embraces the Middle Rio Grande Valley between the Colorado-New Mexico State line and the backwater of Caballo Reservoir in New Mexico, has been developed jointly by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation in cooperation with local, State, and other Federal agencies. The present report, although comprehensive in scope, deals principally with the irrigation and local drainage phases of the plan. The flood control and major drainage phases of the plan are now being reported on by the Corps of Engineers in a survey report on flood control on the Rio Grande and tributaries in New Mexico. Agreement between the two agencies on a unified plan and upon responsibilities for construction, operation, and maintenance of the major features has been obtained as presented in the "Joint Agreement Between the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army on a Unified Plan for Control of Floods, Irrigation, and Use of Water in the Middle Rio Grande Basin in New Mexico," copy of which is attached.

Irrigation has been practiced in the Middle Rio Grande Valley for centuries, first by Indians, later by Spanish colonists, and then by Anglo-Americans who began settling the area in the later half of the nineteenth century. The maximum development was reached in about 1880. After that date, there was a general physical and

economic downtrend because of floods, sediment deposition, and water-logging which resulted in destruction or impairment of irrigation facilities on which the economy of this area relies. During the early part of the present century, several unsuccessful efforts were made to secure a program of rehabilitation for the area. The urgency of the situation finally led to the formation of the Middle Rio Grande conservancy district in 1925. During the next 11 years the District spent almost 10 million dollars for construction of various improvements and remedial works.

Despite this construction program, the economic stability of the Middle Rio Grande Valley is again being threatened by a combination of problems with which the local people can no longer cope. Progressive aggradation of the river channel has caused, and is continuing to cause, a general rise in water table throughout much of the valley floor where practically all of the cultivated lands are located. This has resulted in excessive water-logging and abandonment of productive land, reduction in crop yields on the remaining affected lands, delinquency in repayment of charges with resultant financial difficulties on the part of the Middle Rio Grande conservancy district, a progressive increase in flood damages, and an increase in uncontrolled nonbeneficial consumptive use of water to a point where New Mexico will soon be unable to make the water deliveries to Texas required by the Rio Grande Compact, and at the same time be able to continue present irrigation uses of water.

The irrigated lands of the Middle Rio Grande Valley thus affected lie within the boundaries of the existing Middle Rio Grande conservancy district along both sides of the Rio Grande in Bernalillo, Sandoval, Socorro, and Valencia Counties, New Mex. Main canals and laterals have been constructed to serve about 118,000 acres of land in the district, but only about 79,700 acres, including Indian lands, are irrigated at the present time. Under the proposed plan, a net area of approximately 84,900 acres (including 20,700 acres of Indian lands) within the district would be irrigated.

The plan provides for the rehabilitation and extension of the existing irrigation and related drainage systems and the construction of three sediment and flood control reservoirs, major drainage works, and channel rectification and levee improvements to control sedimentation and flooding in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. An important and necessary part of the plan is the acquisition by the Government of the existing works of the Conservancy District; the proceeds accruing to the District from this purchase by the Government would be used to retire the outstanding indebtedness of the District which now amounts to $7,426,280. Not covered by the plan, but admittedly an important aspect of the overall picture is the necessity for a watershed program to alleviate the basic sediment problems of the valley and to extend the useful life of the present and future control structures. This need is recognized in the joint agreement between the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army, in which it is stated, "The two agencies recognize that there is an important need for supplementary measures for the control of soil erosion and for re