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Domestic Water Supply Act 

 (16 U.S.C. 552a-552d) 



In May, 1940, Congress passed the Domestic Water Supply Act which allows 

 the Department of Agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with 

 a municipality (upon application of the municipality) for the protection 

 of the public water supply. This act has application when a municipality 

 obtains its water from a watershed within a National Forest. Under the 

 provisions of this act, the Department of Agriculture is authorized to 

 adopt and prescribe rules and regulations necessary to effect the adequate 

 protection of the watershed; this may include withdrawal of the land from 

 other development uses. If the municipality concerned objects to the 

 utilization of timber or other resources within the reserved watershed, 

 and the Department of Agriculture agrees to withold such resources from 

 utilization, the municipality shall pay to the Forest Service the amount 

 necessary to reimburse the United States for revenue lost from non-utilization 

 of the resource. 



Although enacted to prevent water quality degradation in public water supplies, 

 the act may actually discourage adequate watershed protection because of 

 the resource utilization clause. This is especially true in rural areas 

 and small towns where the tax base may not be large enough to cover the 

 reimbursement costs of non-utilization. This act should be revised to 

 allow for adequate water supply protection without requiring municipalities 

 to "buy" the resource development rights of a publicly owned (National 

 Forest) watershed. 



