356 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



WARREN BILL. 



A Bill Authorizing Contracts for Disposition of Waters 

 of Projects Under the Reclamation Act, and for 



Other Purposes. 



The following, known as the Warren bill, as now pre- 

 sented for action by the House of Representatives at 

 Washington, is of vital interest to many sections of the 

 West: 



"That whenever in his judgment any part of the water 

 supply of any reclamation project can be disposed of so. as to 

 promote the rapid and desired development of such project, 

 the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, upon such 

 terms, including rates and charges, as he may determine just 

 and reasonable, to contract for the delivery or any such water 

 to irrigation systems operating under the act of August Is, 

 1894, known as the Carey Act, and to corporations, associa- 

 tions, and irrigation districts organized for or engaged in 

 furnishing and distributing water for irrigation. Delivery of 

 water under any such contracts shall be for the purpose of 

 distribution to individual water users by the party with 

 whom the contract is made: Provided, however, That no 

 such water shall be distributed otherwise than as prescribed 

 by law as to lands held in private ownership within govern- 

 ment reclamation projects. 



In fixing rates and charges to be fixed in such contracts 

 for delivery of water to any irrigation system, corporation, 

 association, or district, as herein provided, said Secretary 

 shall take into consideration the cost of construction and 

 maintenance of the reclamation project from which such water 

 is to be furnished. No irrigation system, district, association, 

 or corporation so contracting shall make any charge for the 

 storage, carriage, or delivery of such water in excess of the 

 charge paid by it to the United States except to such extent 

 as may be reasonably necessary to cover cost of carriage and 

 delivery of such water through its works. 



Sec. 2. That in carrying out the provisions of said re- 

 clamation act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary 

 thereto, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, upon such 

 terms as may be agreed upon, to co-operate with irrigation 

 districts, associations, or corporations for the construction of 



Section 8 of the Reclamation Act provides, in effect, 

 that the use and distribution of water appropriated and 

 impounded by the Secretary of the Interior shall conform 

 with the state laws, and Congress could not otherwise 

 provide for the reason, as stated by Justice Brewer in 

 Kansas vs. Colorado, "We do not mean that its legisla- 

 tion can override state laws in respect to the general 

 subject of reclamation." Under state laws a corporation 

 or an association owning an irrigation project could be 

 compelled, if it had water to spare, to deliver the same 

 to anyone willing to pay for the same. It would appear, 

 therefore, that Congress intended that the government 

 should do, willingly, that which a private corporation 

 could be compelled to do under state laws. 



But in carrying out this intention, Congress failed to 

 expressly provide that the secretary might contract with 



Hotel Wolf, Saratoga, Wyo. 



corporations or associations for the use and distribu- 

 tion of water which it might have under its control, and 

 which was not necessary for the government's project. 

 The purpose of the second section is obvious to any- 



A Street Scene in Saratoga, Wyoming. 



sucli reservoirs, canals, or ditches as may be advantageously 

 used by the Government and irrigation districts, associations, 

 or corporations for impounding, delivering, and carrying water 

 for irrigation purposes: Provided, That the title to and man- 

 agement of the works so constructed shall be subject to the 

 provisions of section six of said act: Provided further, That 

 water shall not be furnished from any such reservoir or de- 

 livered through any such canal or ditch to any one land- 

 owner in excess of an amount su Relent to irrigate one hun- 

 dred and sixty acres. 



Sec. 3. That the moneys received in pursuance of such 

 contracts shall be covered into the reclamation fund, and be 

 available for use under the terms of the reclamation act and 

 the acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto." 



In approving this measure, Secretary Ballinger re- 

 ported as follows: "The object of the first section 

 is to remove whatever doubt there may be in respect to 

 the question whether the Secretary of the Interior under 

 the Reclamation Act has authority to contract for the 

 delivery of water from the government projects to cor- 

 porations, companies, or irrigation districts in order that 

 they, in turn, may deliver the same to tracts of land not 

 in excess of 160 acres each, and not included within the 

 government project. 



one who has knowledge of conditions in the arid region. 

 It is well known that there are not many available reser- 

 voir sites in comparison to the amount of water available 

 for irrigation, and with the amount of land capable of 

 iirigation. In some cases the government has secured 

 available sites whereon reservoirs may be erected of such 

 dimensions as will irrigate a much larger area of land than 

 it is deemed wise to include within a government project. 

 In the construction of a government reservoir the recla- 

 mation fund should be used only to construct it of such 

 dimensions as will impound a quantity of water sufficient 

 to supply the land within the project itself. Hence, un- 

 less the Secretary can co-operate and contract with com- 

 panies, associations or districts to the end that reservoirs 

 may be erected of such dimensions as to irrigate larger 

 areas than the government has included within its own 

 project, great areas of arid land, capable of irrigation will 

 always remain barren. 



Again, the government may have the only available 

 location where it is practical to construct a gravity canal 

 (Continued on page 389.) 



