in all sections of the United States as to warrant careful planning to preserve inherent values and prevent wasteful development.

Excellent water-power sites are frequently found in locations remote from large centers of population. Because of lack of immediate market, such sites may have little or no present value; but their future value, as the population and limit of economical transmission distance increase, may be very great. Such resources should be safeguarded in the public interest.

The flow of the typical American river is subject to great seasonal and annual variations, and, consequently, unless the flow is artificially regulated by storage reservoirs, the power value will be only partially realized, since flood waters will be wasted and the plant will lack dependability. Thus, the close coordination of power and storage projects on the same river system is essential to complete development of power values. Moreover, it is frequently the case that a particular water-power development becomes economical and desirable by reason of the existence of a large interconnected power system to absorb the output of the new project, such system involving developments in several watersheds with different characteristics, each supplying some of the deficiencies of the other.

The market demand for power is seldom if ever constant, but is subject to hourly, daily, and seasonal variations. Hence, to properly utilize a given stream flow, provision for conserving the water and releasing it in accordance with the fluctuating demand is essential. Thus, the storage of water is of prime importance. Given sufficient storage so that the available water can be used as desired, a water power may have high value by reason of the facility with which capacity can be produced, provided, of course, there is a demand for capacity. Such capacity can be used to carry short-period peak loads, or as emergency reserve for steam plants, with comparatively small consumption of water.

When water is used in the development of power its quantity is not reduced, and it remains available for various other uses. Water power may be developed to a certain extent in combination with improvements for navigation, flood control, or irrigation, and thus given sites may be made to serve two or more purposes. In certain cases where flood control or irrigation is of prime importance, power having considerable value may be developed as a byproduct. Usually there is but slight conflict between the interests of power and navigation, since navigation works are usually for canalization purposes, creating head and requiring but little water for efficient operation.

RELATION OF WATER POWER AND FUEL POWER

The total electric generating capacity of the United States as of January 1, 1934, in public-utility service, and including both fuelelectric and hydroelectric plants, was 48,568,000 horsepower, of which 13,100,000 horsepower was in hydroelectric plants and 35,468,000 horsepower in fuel-electric plants.

The value of a water-power site; assuming the availability of a market for the output, may be determined by comparison with the cost of producing an equivalent amount of power by the most economical method available, using a competitive source of power. The other forms of power plants in general use are steam-electric

plants, using coal, oil, or natural gas as fuel; and plants in which the generators are driven by internal-combustion engines, using oil or gas as fuel. These competitive costs are subject to constant variation because of changes in the costs of fuel, labor, machinery, and supplies, and from increase in efficiency in the use of fuel. Installed capacity in water-power plants is more dependable than the same nominal capacity in fuel-electric plants, and it is necessary to make appropriate allowance for this advantage in making the comparison. The respective costs of delivering the power at load centers must also be considered.

Certain

As a general rule water power can be combined or operated with steam power with very marked advantage. In fact, frequently association with certain amounts of steam power is essential to success. The exact manner and proportion of the hydro-steam association are dependent on the circumstances of each particular case. water-power plants having such deficiencies that they cannot operate independently may, when properly combined with steam power, produce power at a cost below that which would be possible in an independent steam plant.

The facility with which such water-power plants can be absorbed increases with the size of the system and the diversity of the load. Water-power plants without storage ordinarily are designed to operate on base load at high-load factors, while those with storage are usually designed for low-load factors and carry peak loads; or, in case of incomplete storage regulation, they may be used for peakload duty during periods of low stream flow and for base-load duty during periods of copious stream flow.

FUNCTIONS OF FEDERAL POWER COMMISSION

(Statement submitted by the Chairman, Federal Power Commission)

The functions of the Federal Power Commission in relation to the development of the hydroelectric power resources on the navigable waters or public lands of the United States are clearly defined by the Federal Water Power Act of 1920. This act also confers upon the Commission definite jurisdiction with reference to the interstate transmission of electrical energy developed by projects located on the navigable waters or public lands of the United States and empowers the Commission to regulate rates and control the amount and character of securities to be issued by its licensees or their controlling companies in States which have not provided proper agencies for effectuating such regulation.

The Commission is authorized to determine the actual legitimate investment of licensees in projects developed under its jurisdiction. as a basis not only for ultimate recapture of such projects by the Federal Government but also as a basis for rate regulation, where such jurisdiction vests, and for the expropriation to the Government of excessive profits until the respective States shall make provision for preventing excessive profits or for the expropriation thereof to

themselves.

The Federal Water Power Act further authorizes and empowers the Commission to investigate the water-power resources of the nation, in relation to other industries and to interstate commerce and, subject to approval by the Congress, to determine which water

power sites and Government dams may be advantageously developed by the United States for public purposes in addition to navigation. It is clear from the foregoing summary of the powers conferred by the Federal Water Power Act that it was the intent of the Congress that the Federal Power Commission should exercise complete jurisdiction over the water-power resources of the United States, insofar as they are under the control of the Federal Government under the commerce clause of the Constitution or through their location upon lands of the United States.

This broad authority has been reinforced by recent orders and declarations of the President of the United States. In his Executive Order No. 6251, of August 19, 1933, the President directed the Federal Power Commission to make a national survey of the water resources of the United States as they relate to the conservation, development, control, and utilization of water power; of the relation of water power to other industries and interstate and foreign commerce; and of the transmission of electrical energy in the United States and its distribution to consumers, and on the basis of this survey, to formulate a program of public works.

The President in this Executive order further authorizes the Commission to investigate applications for loans made to the Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works for the construction of public-works projects which involve the development and utilization of electric power, and to make recommendations with respect thereto to the Administrator.

In a recent message to the Congress, the President said: "The problems of transportation are vested in the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the problems of power, its development, transmission, and distribution, in the Federal Power Commission."

The fundamental purpose of the national power survey, which the Commission is now conducting in accordance with the President's Executive order, is to determine both for the present and for the future the power requirements for each section of the United States and to ascertain from what sources the necessary supply of electrical energy can most advantageously and economically be supplied. Such a determination is an essential basis of any sound program for the development of the Nation's water resources.

Water power constitutes the principal and sometimes the only source from which the Federal Government may reasonably expect a revenue to liquidate its investment in the development of the waters which come within its jurisdiction. Access to the harbors of the United States is free to the ships of all nations; no tolls are charged upon any of our inland waterways; the benefits to be expected from projects for flood control and the prevention of soil erosion are always indirect; and the revenues from irrigation projects are generally inadequate to cover the fixed charges and cost of operation. Water-power development alone can reasonably be expected not only to pay its own way but to yield substantial revenues to the Federal Government. Such expectations can be realized, however, only if the water-power projects chosen for public development are selected with proper regard to their soundness from an engineering standpoint and their economic feasibility.

It is respectfully submitted, therefore, that in order to carry out the intent of the Congress, as expressed in the Federal Water Power

Act, and properly to protect the interests of the Federal Government, no water-power project should be approved except after submission of the proposed plans to the Federal Power Commission nor should any scheme for prevention of soil erosion, flood control, or the improvement of navigation which involves the construction of dams be approved until the Federal Power Commission has had an opportunity to determine whether proper provision has been made for the development of the water-power resources inherent in such projects.

WATER INTERESTS OF THE GENERAL LAND OFFICE

(Statement submitted by the Commissioner of the General Land Office)

The General Land Office has no constructive projects involving the use of water, but does administer laws under which a water supply is an element as enumerated herein.

RESERVATIONS FOR POWER SITE, RESERVOIR, AND STOCK-WATERING

PURPOSES

There are now approximately 7,000,000 acres of land within the publicland States withdrawn or classified for the purpose of power development. Under the act of June 10, 1920 (41 Stat. 1063), the Federal Power Commission has jurisdiction over the development of hydroelectric power upon such lands.

For the purpose of securing the free use by the public of lands upon which there is located water used or needed for stock-watering purposes and to prevent individuals or corporations from obtaining title thereto, thereby monopolizing the public range, 476,000 acres of public land have been withdrawn for stock-watering purposes in accordance with the act of December 29, 1916 (39 Stat. 862), and every smallest legal subdivision of vacant public land and all such unsurveyed land within one-quarter of a mile of a spring or water hole has been withdrawn for the same purpose.

About 10,000 acres of land have been reserved in connection with stock-watering reservoirs constructed under the act of January 13, 1897 (29 Stat. 484), and will remain so reserved so long as such reservoirs are maintained and kept open for the use of the public.

Two hundred thirteen thousand one hundred twenty-two acres have been withdrawn for reservoir sites.

RIGHTS-OF-WAY FOR PROJECTS INVOLVING USE OF WATER

Sections 2339 and 2340 read as follows:

SEC. 2339. Whenever, by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, have vested and accrued, and the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and the decisions of courts, the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the same; and the right-of-way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage.

SEC. 2340. All patents granted, or preemption or homesteads allowed, shall be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may have been acquired under or recognized by the preceding section:

These sections are quoted as a matter of information as no action on the part of the Government is necessary for the operation of section 2339 although patents for lands west of the one-hundredth meridian contain provisions in accordance with section 2340.

In accordance with the act of August 30, 1890 (26 Stat. 371, 391), reservations of rights-of-way for ditches or canals constructed by the authority of the United States are reserved in patents covering land west of the one-hundredth meridian. Such reservations are primarily for projects which may be constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation Upon proper applications being filed under sections 18, 19, 20, and 21 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. 1095) rights of way are granted over public lands or reservations of the United States to corporations, associations, or individuals for reservoirs and for canals, ditches, and other conduits for use in connection with water to be used for irrigation. This act was amended by section 2 of the act of May 11, 1898 (30 Stat. 404), so as to provide that rights-of-way granted thereunder might be used for purposes of water transportation, for domestic purposes or for the development of power, provided such use is subsidiary to the main purpose of irrigation. The act of March 4, 1917 (39 Stat. 1197), amended section 18 of the act of March 3, 1891, so as to provide for the granting of rights of way for drainage purposes. Upon proper applications being filed under the act of February 15, 1901 (31 Stat. 790), permits are issued by the Secretary to individuals, associations or corporations authorizing the use of rights-of-way over public lands and reservations of the United States for

canals, ditches, pipes, and pipe lines, flumes, tunnels, or other water conduits, and for water plants, dams, and reservoirs used to promote irrigation or mining or quarrying, or the manufacturing or cutting of timber or lumber, or the supplying of water for domestic, public, or any other beneficial uses to the extent of the ground occupied by such canals, ditches, flumes, tunnels, reservoirs, or other water conduits or water plants, or electrical or other works permitted hereunder, and not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the marginal limits thereof, or not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the center line of such pipes and pipe lines.

While this act originally authorized the issuance of permits for rights-of-way over lands in national forests, under section 1 of the act of February 1, 1905 (33 Stat. 628), the Secretary of Agriculture now has jurisdiction over the granting of such permits.

Upon proper applications being filed under section 4 of the act of February 1, 1905 (33 Stat. 628), rights-of-way over lands in national forests are granted to individuals and corporations for dams, reservoirs, water plants, ditches, flumes, pipes, tunnels, and canals in connection with the use of water for mining or municipal purposes.

The act of March 3, 1921 (41 Stat. 1253), among other things provides that

Hereafter no permit, license, lease, or authorization for dams, conduits, reservoirs, power houses, transmission lines, or other works for storage or carriage of water, or for the development, transmission, or utilization of power within the limits as now constituted of any national park or national monument, shall be granted or made without specific authority of Congress, etc.

RECLAMATION ENTRIES

In the handling of those entries made for lands receiving water for irrigation purposes from a Federal reclamation project or an irrigation district, the following laws involving the use of water are administered by the General Land Office: