435 



and navigation ; in the Department of tlie Interior for irrigation and 

 reclamation: in the Department of Agriculture for erosion control: 

 and in the Federal Power Commission for dam authorization. Dam 

 construction and power production was performed by both the Corps 

 and the Bureau of Keclamation. Both agencies also engaged in exten- 

 sive planning of large multipurpose projects and basin studies, such 

 as the Pick (Corps of Engineers) and Sloan (Bureau of Reclamation) 

 plans for the Missouri River Basin. 



Thus, by 1945, planning leadership in water development was 

 divided between local and national political jurisdictions with respect 

 to a multi jurisdictional resource; water functions were divided among 

 agencies, despite the great emphasis on total basin planning; and 

 purposes remained uncertain as long as all participants in the planning 

 represented different regional jurisdictions and agencies with differ- 

 ent finictional interests. Thereafter, two main lines of approach were 

 used to provide coherence: (1) the development of methods for tlie 

 formal evaluation of water projects nationally on strictly or essen- 

 tially economic terms ; (2) efforts to define national purposes and goals 

 for water development, and to relate individual projects to these goals. 

 Oyer the next 17 years, nine major studies of water problems and ad- 

 ministration were sponsored by the Federal Government to resolve the 

 issues involved in these contradictions and conflicting goals. 



Emphasis of Truman administration studies on social goals 



Various attempts had been made to rationalize tlie management of 

 Federal projects associated with river basin development, before 1945. 

 For example, in the 1944 Flood Control Act the Secretary of War was 

 to issue regulations for the use of storage capacity for flood control or 

 navigation at Federal dams, while the Secretary of the Interior was 

 responsible for the marketing of electric power, and management of 

 irrigation works supplied with water from Army dams. In 1943, a 

 Federal Inter-Agency River Basin Committee was formed by agree- 

 ment among the Departments of Agriculture, War, Interior,'and the 

 Federal Power Commission (later joined by Commerce and the Fed- 

 eral Security Administration — precursor to the Department of HEW) . 

 However, when the first Hoover Commission reported February 15, 

 1949, it found "glaring defects" in the organization and coordination 

 of Federal agencies concerned with water development and use. For 

 example, there was «* * * no effective agency for the screening and 

 review of proposed projects to determine their economic and social 

 worth." There was "* * * duplication and overlap of effort, and 

 policy conflicts * * *." There was "* * * considerable doubt as to the 

 proper assignment of capital costs as between irrecoverable costs at- 

 tributable to flood control and navigation, on the one hand, and 

 recoverable capital to be reimbursed from reclamation and sale of 

 water and power, on the other." ^^ Accordingly the Commission 

 recommended : 



• ♦ • The creation of a Board of Impartial Analysis for Engineering and 

 Architectural Projects which shall review and report to the President and the 

 Congress on the public and economic value of project proposals by the Depart- 

 ment. The Board should also periodically review authorized projects and advise 



'*The Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (First 

 Hoover Commission). Reorganization of the Department of the Interior. A report to the 

 Congress, March 1949. (Washington, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), pp 26-27 



