§ 1592 — Authorization To Construct, Operate, And Maintain Salinity Control Units And Salinity Control Programs

(a) The Secretary is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain the following salinity control units and salinity control programs as the initial stage of the Colorado River Basin salinity control program: (1) The Paradox Valley unit, Montrose County, Colorado, consisting of facilities for collection and disposition of saline ground water of Paradox Valley, including wells, pumps, pipelines, solar evaporation ponds, and all necessary appurtenant and associated works such as roads, fences, dikes, power transmission facilities, and permanent operating facilities, and consisting of measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. (2) Prior to initiation of construction of the Grand Valley unit, or portion thereof, the Secretary shall enter into contracts through which the non-Federal entities owning, operating, and maintaining the water distribution systems, or portions thereof, in Grand Valley, singly or in concert, will assume the obligations specified in subsection (b)(2) relating to the continued operation and maintenance of the unit’s facilities to the end that the maximum reduction of salinity inflow to the Colorado River will be achieved. (3) The Las Vegas Wash unit, Nevada, consisting of facilities for collection and disposition of saline ground water of Las Vegas Wash, including infiltration galleries, pumps, desalter, pipelines, solar evaporation facilities, and all appurtenant works including but not limited to roads, fences, power transmission facilities, and operating facilities, and consisting of measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. (4) Stage I of the Lower Gunnison Basin unit, Colorado, consisting of measures and all necessary appurtenant and associated works to reduce seepage from canals and laterals in the Uncompahgre Valley, and consisting of measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone, essentially as described in the feasibility report and final environmental statement dated February 10, 1984. Prior to initiation of construction of stage I of the Lower Gunnison Basin unit, or of a portion of stage I, the Secretary shall enter into contracts through which the non-Federal entities owning, operating, and maintaining the water distribution systems, or portions thereof, in the Uncompahgre Valley, singly or in concert, will assume the obligations specified in subsection (b)(2) relating to the continued operation and maintenance of the unit’s facilities. (5) Portions of the McElmo Creek unit, Colorado, as components of the Dolores participating project, Colorado River Storage project, authorized by Public Law 90–537 [43 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.] and Public Law 84–485 [43 U.S.C. 620 et seq.], consisting of all measures and all necessary appurtenant and associated works to reduce seepage only from the Towaoc-Highline combined canal, Rocky Ford laterals, Lone Pine lateral, and Upper Hermana lateral, and consisting of measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. The Dolores participating project shall have salinity control as a project purpose insofar as these specific facilities are concerned: Provided, That the costs of construction and replacement of these specific facilities shall be allocated by the Secretary to salinity control and irrigation only after consultation with the State of Colorado, the Montezuma Valley Irrigation District, Colorado, and the Dolores Water Conservancy District, Colorado: And provided further, That such allocation of costs to salinity control will include only the separable and specific costs of these specific facilities and will not include any joint costs of any other facilities of the Dolores participating project. Repayment of costs allocated to salinity control shall be subject to this chapter. Repayment of costs allocated to irrigation shall be subject to the Acts which authorized the Dolores participating project, the Reclamation Act of 1902, and Acts amendatory and supplementary thereto. Prior to initiation of construction of these specific facilities, or a portion thereof, the Secretary shall enter into contracts through which the non-Federal entities owning, operating, and maintaining the water distribution systems, or portions thereof, in the Montezuma Valley, singly or in concert, will assume the obligations specified in subsection (b)(2) relating to the continued operation and maintenance of the unit’s facilities. (6) A basinwide salinity control program that the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, shall implement. The Secretary may carry out the purposes of this paragraph directly, or may make grants, commitments for grants, or advances of funds to non-Federal entities under such terms and conditions as the Secretary may require. Such program shall consist of cost-effective measures and associated works to reduce salinity from saline springs, leaking wells, irrigation sources, industrial sources, erosion of public and private land, or other sources that the Secretary considers appropriate. Such program shall provide for the mitigation of incidental fish and wildlife values that are lost as a result of the measures and associated works. The Secretary shall submit a planning report concerning the program established under this paragraph to the appropriate committees of Congress. The Secretary may not expend funds for any implementation measure under the program established under this paragraph before the expiration of a 30-day period beginning on the date on which the Secretary submits such report. (A) A Basin States Program that the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Reclamation, shall implement to carry out salinity control activities in the Colorado River Basin using funds made available under section 1595(f) of this title. (B) The Secretary, in consultation with the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Advisory Council, shall carry out this paragraph using funds described in subparagraph (A) directly or by providing grants, grant commitments, or advance funds to Federal or non-Federal entities under such terms and conditions as the Secretary may require. (C) Funds described in subparagraph (A) shall be used to carry out, as determined by the Secretary— (i) cost-effective measures and associated works to reduce salinity from saline springs, leaking wells, irrigation sources, industrial sources, erosion of public and private land, or other sources; (ii) operation and maintenance of salinity control features constructed under the Colorado River Basin salinity control program; and (iii) studies, planning, and administration of salinity control activities. (i) Not later than 30 days before implementing the program established under this paragraph, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a planning report that describes the proposed implementation of the program. (ii) The Secretary may not expend funds to implement the program established under this paragraph before the expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which the Secretary submits the report, or any revision to the report, under clause (i). (b) In implementing the units authorized to be constructed pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall carry out the following directions: (1) As reports are completed describing final implementation plans for the unit, or any portion thereof, authorized by paragraph (5) of subsection (a), and prior to expenditure of funds for related construction activities, the Secretary shall submit such reports to the appropriate committees of the Congress and to the governors of the Colorado River Basin States. (2) Non-Federal entities shall be required by the Secretary to contract for the long-term operation and maintenance of canal and lateral systems constructed pursuant to activities provided for in subsection (a): Provided, That the Secretary shall reimburse such non-Federal entities for the costs of such operation and maintenance to the extent the costs exceed the expenses that would have been incurred by them in the thorough and timely operation and maintenance of their canal and lateral systems absent the construction of a unit, said expenses to be determined by the Secretary after consultation with the involved non-Federal entities. The operation and maintenance for which non-Federal entities shall be responsible shall include such repairing and replacing of a unit’s facilities as are associated with normal annual maintenance activities in order to keep such facilities in a condition which will assure maximum reduction of salinity inflow to the Colorado River. These non-Federal entities shall not be responsible, nor incur any costs, for the replacement of a unit’s facilities, including measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. The term replacement shall be defined for the purposes of this subchapter as a major modification or reconstruction of a completed unit, or portion thereof, which is necessitated, through no fault of the non-Federal entity or entities operating and maintaining a unit, by design or construction inadequacies or by normal limits on the useful life of a facility. The Secretary is authorized to provide continuing technical assistance to non-Federal entities to assure the effective and efficient operation and maintenance of a unit’s facilities. (3) The Secretary may, under authority of this subchapter, and limited to the purposes of this chapter, fund through a grant or contract, for any fiscal year only to such extent or in such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, a non-Federal entity to organize private canal and lateral owners into formal organizations with which the Secretary may enter into a grant or contract to construct, operate, and maintain a unit’s facilities. (4) In implementing the units authorized to be constructed or the programs pursuant to paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7) of subsection (a), the Secretary shall comply with procedural and substantive State water laws. (5) The Secretary may, under authority of this subchapter and limited to the purposes of this chapter, fund through a grant or contract, for any fiscal year only to such extent or in such amounts as are provided in appropriation Acts, a non-Federal entity to operate and maintain measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone. (6) In implementing the units authorized to be constructed pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall implement measures to replace incidental fish and wildlife values foregone concurrently with the implementation of a unit’s, or a portion of a unit’s, related features. (c) The Secretary of Agriculture shall carry out salinity control measures (including watershed enhancement and cost-share measures with livestock and crop producers) in the Colorado River Basin as part of the environmental quality incentives program established under subchapter A of chapter 4 of subtitle D of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 [16 U.S.C. 3839aa et seq.].