TEMPORARY RIO GRANDE COMPACT

471

control the storage and release of water from said reservoir and the management and operation thereof, subject to a compact between the signatory States.

"(e) Colorado reserves jurisdiction and control over said reservoir for game,

fish, and all other purposes not herein relinquished.

..

"(f) Colorado waives rights of taxation of said reservoir and appurtenant structures and all lands by it occupied.

"ARTICLE IX

"Nothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the United States of America to the United States of Mexico, or to the Indian tribes, or as impairing the rights of the Indian tribes.

"ARTICLE X

"It is declared by the States signatory hereto to be the policy of all parties hereto to avoid waste of waters, and to that end the officials charged with the performance of duties hereunder shall use their utmost efforts to prevent wastage of waters.

"ARTICLE XI

"Subject to the provisions of this compact water of the Rio Grande or any its tributaries may be impounded and used for the generation of power, but such impounding and use shall always be subservient to the use and consumption of such waters for domestic, municipal, and agricultural purposes. Water shall not be stored, detained, nor discharged so as to prevent or impair use for such. dominant purposes.

"ARTICLE XII

"New Mexico agrees with Texas, with the understanding that prior vested rights above and below Elephant Butte Reservoir shall never be impaired hereby, that she will not cause or suffer the water supply of the Elephant Butte Reservoir to be impaired by new or increased diversion or storage within the limits of New Mexico unless and until such depletion is offset by increase of drainage

return.

"ARTICLE XIII ·

"The physical and other conditions characteristic of the Rio Grande and peculiar to the territory drained and served thereby, and to the development thereof, have actuated this compact, and none of the signatory States admits that any provision herein contained establishes any general principle of precedent applicable to other interstate streams.

"ARTICLE XIV

"This compact may be terminated or extended at any time by the unanimous legislative action of all of the signatory States, and in that event all rights established under it shall remain and continue unimpaired.

472

TEMPORARY RIO GRANDE COMPACT

"ARTICLE XV

"Nothing herein contained shall prevent the adjustment or settlement of any claim or controversy between these States by direct legislative action of the interested States nor shall anything herein contained be construed to limit the right of any State to invoke the jurisdiction of any court of competent jurisdiction for the protection of any right secured to such State by the provisions of this compact, or to enforce any provision thereof.

"ARTICLE XVI

"Nothing in this compact shall be considered or construed as recognizing, establishing, or fixing any status of the river or the accuracy of any data or records or the rights or equities of any of the signatories or as a recognition, acceptance, or acknowledgement of any plan or principle or of any claim or assertion made or advanced by either of the signatories or hereafter construed as in any manner establishing any principle or precedent as regards future equitable apportionment of the waters of the Rio Grande. The signatories agree that the plan herein adopted for administration of the waters of the Rio Grande is merely a temporary expedient to be applied during the period of time in this compact specified, is a compromise temporary in nature and shall have no other force or interpretation, and that the plan adopted as a basis therefore is not to be construed as in any manner establishing, acknowledging, or defining any status, condition, or principle at this or any other time.

"ARTICLE XVII

"The signatories consent and agree to the extension of time for construction of reservoirs on sites covered by approved applications during the time of this compact and for a reasonable time thereafter.

"ARTICLE XVIII

"This compact shall become operative when approved by the legislature of each of the signatory States and by the Congress of the United States. Notice of approval shall be given by the governor of each State to the governors of the other States and to the President of the United States, and the President of the United States is requested to give notice to the governors of each of the signatory States of its approval by the Congress of the United States.

"In witness whereof, the commissioners have signed this compact in quadruplicate original, one of which shall be deposited in the archives of the Department of State of the United States of America and shall be deemed the authoritative original, and of which a duly certified copy shall be forwarded to the governor of each of the signatory States.

TEMPORARY RIO GRANDE COMPACT

"Done at the city of Santa Fe, in the State of New Mexico, on the 12th day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

474

PAYMENTS FOR PAIUTE INDIAN LANDS, NEWLANDS PROJECT

An Act to provide for the payment of benefits received by the Paiute Indian Reservation lands within the Newlands irrigation project, Nevada, and for other purposes. (Act of June 27, 1930, ch. 637, 46 Stat. 820)

[Authorization for appropriation to pay Truckee-Carson irrigation district for benefits received by Indian lands.]-There is hereby authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $6,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, for paying the TruckeeCarson irrigation district, Fallon, Nevada, in sixty semiannual installments, as equally as may be, the proportionate share of the benefits received by four thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven and three-tenths irrigable acres of Paiute Indian lands within the Newlands irrigation project, for necessary repairs to the Truckee Canal to restore said canal to its original capacity, said payments to be made at the same time and at the same rate per irrigable acre as that paid to the Reclamation Bureau by said district for other irrigable lands located therein. (46 Stat. 820)

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Not Codified. This Act is not codified in the U.S. Code.

Legislative History. S. 135, Public Law

451 in the 71st Congress. S. Rept. No. 532. H.R. Rept. No. 1691.

475

REHABILITATION OF BITTER ROOT PROJECT

An act for the rehabilitation of the Bitter Root irrigation project, Montana. (Act of July 3, 1930, ch. 833, 46 Stat. 852)

Repealed.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Repealed. The Act of May 6, 1949, 63 Stat. 62, repealed this Act and its supplementary Act, the Act of August 26, 1935, 49 Stat. 799. Both the 1935 and 1949 Acts appear herein in chronological order. The text of the Act before repeal read as follows:

[Sec. 1. Appropriation authorized.]-There is hereby authorized to be appropriated from the reclamation fund established by the act of June 17, 1902 (Thirty-second Statutes, page 388), the sum of $750,000, or as much thereof as may be necessary to be used for the rehabilitation of the Bitter Root irrigation project in Montana. (46 Stat. 852)

Sec. 2. [Liquidation of indebtedness-Construction, betterment, or repair work-Loan to irrigation district.]—The Secretary of the Interior, hereinafter styled the Secretary, is authorized to use money thus appropriated for the following purposes:

(1) For liquidating bonded and other outstanding indebtedness of such irrigation project on such basis of valuation as the Secretary may regard as equitable, not exceeding 75 per centum of the principal and accrued interest, no portion of such outstanding indebtedness to be liquidated except a total outstanding indebtedness of such project is so liquidated;

(2) For doing or causing to be done under his supervision any construction, betterment, or repair work necessary to place the irrigation system of such project in good operating condition, and as provided for in the contract hereinafter required;

(3) For loaning to such irrigation district, hereinafter provided for, such funds as in the opinion of the Secretary are necessary for any construction, betterment, or repair work to place the irrigation system of such project in good operating condition. (46 Stat. 852)

Liquidation of indebtedness 1
Reimbursement 2

1. Liquidation of indebtedness

NOTES OF OPINIONS

The Bitter Root irrigation district, in negotiations with its creditors, pursuant to the requirement of subsection 1, section 2 of this act, located and deposited all except five bonds of $500 each. The Comptroller General, in decision A-34571 dated May 18, 1931, interpreting the last 20 words of this subsection, beginning with "no portion of", stated that substantial compliance with the law would be accomplished if the amount necessary to retire the five bonds on the same basis that the other indebtedness of the irrigation district are to be liquidated under the act of July 3, 1930, is set aside and remains unexpended in the appropriation to take care of such bonds in the event the owners present the same and, in addition to this there be procured a bond of indemnity or such other security as will guarantee that neither the Government nor the irrigation district will ever have to pay any greater amount on account of said five bonds than 75 percent of principal and accrued in

terest if now paid with the other bonds now being liquidated.

Comptroller General's decision A-34571 of July 23, 1931, outlines the procedure to be followed in connection with loans under the act of July 3, 1930. Form of deposit agreement to be executed by the creditors of the Bitter Root irrigation district was approved by the Comptroller General under date of February 13, 1931. A further decision dated March 18, 1932, was rendered by the Comptroller General regarding evidence to be submitted to the General Accounting Office of payments to the creditors. 2. Reimbursement

The Comptroller General in decision B27425 dated August 7, 1942, held that the Bitter Root Irrigation District may be reimbursed after expenditures incurred for protective measures taken by it at the request of the Bureau.

In decision A-34571 dated June 21, 1932, the Comptroller General authorized reimbursement to the Bitter Root irrigation district of an amount advanced by the district for construction, betterment and repair, notwithstanding the provision of article 2 of