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ENCLOSURE IV ENCLOSURE IV 



IRRIGATION 



BACKGROUND 



The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Recleunatlon 

 (Bureau) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) are the 

 principal federal agencies that build and operate multipurpose 

 water projects. The Bureau constructs and operates projects for 

 storing, diverting, or developing water resources to reclaim land 

 In the arid or semlarld areas of the country. The Corps constructs 

 and operates water projects associated with rivers, harbors, and 

 waterways. Both agencies build and operate multipurpose reservoirs 

 that provide municipal and Industrial water supplies, hydroelectric 

 power generation, irrigation, fish and wildlife enhancement, flood 

 control, outdoor recreation, and river regulation and control. 



The Bureau has been primarily responsible for the development 

 of irrigation projects in the Pacific Northwest. The Reclamation 

 Project Act of 1939, as amended, authorized the Secretary of the 

 Interior to undertake projects to provide water not only for 

 irrigation but also for other purposes, such as flood control and 

 power generation. The act provides that the construction costs 

 associated with the various purposes of such projects are to be 

 recovered from the parties receiving the benefits. 



In general, users of irrigation water repay their share of a 

 project's costs without Interest. These interest-free payments 

 generally are required to be made within 50 years, on the basis of 

 the irrigator's ability to pay as determined by the Bureau's 

 economic analysis of the specific project. Irrigation costs above 

 the water user's ability to pay are to be repaid by revenues from 

 surplus hydroelectric power sales and other miscellaneous project 

 revenues, again without an Interest charge. 



GAO WORK 



In October 1985, we testified on the development of 

 hydroelectric and federal water projects in the Pacific Northwest. 

 Among other Issues, we assessed whether the Bonneville Power 

 Administration (BPA) should be required to repay the costs of 

 constructing irrigation projects from its power sales revenues 

 (irrigation assistance). We concluded that the Reclamation Project 

 Act of 1939 does not authorize the use of power revenues for 

 irrigation assistance but that a substantial number of individual 

 project authorizations either require or allow irrigation 

 assistance. For irrigation projects In the Pacific Northwest, 

 Bureau documents indicate that about $2.7 billion in Irrigation 

 assistance is to be provided from revenues received by BPA from 

 federal power sales. 



14 GM)/RCED-93-133R, GAO Products on Bonneville PoNer Administration 



