109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 125

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facilities to provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, 

military, and other uses from the Santa Margarita River, 

California, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

3 apply: 

4 (1) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the 

5 Fallbrook Public Utility District, San Diego County, 

6 California. 

7 (2) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Project’’ means the 

8 impoundment, recharge, treatment, and other facili9 ties the construction, operation, watershed manage10 ment, and maintenance of which is authorized under 

11 section 2. 

12 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of the Interior, unless otherwise stat14 ed. 

15 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SANTA 

16 MARGARITA RIVER PROJECT. 

17 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting pursu18 ant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 

19 1902; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or sup20 plementary thereto, as far as those laws are not incon21 sistent with the provisions of this Act, is authorized to 

22 construct, operate, and maintain the Project substantially 

23 in accordance with the final feasibility report and this Act. 

24 (b) CONDITIONS.—The Secretary may construct the 

25 Project only after the Secretary determines that the fol26 lowing conditions have occurred: 
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1 (1) The District has entered into a contract 

2 under section 9(d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 

3 1939 to repay to the United States appropriate por4 tions, as determined by the Secretary, of the actual 

5 costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the 

6 Project, together with interest as hereinafter pro7 vided. 

8 (2) The officer or agency of the State of Cali9 fornia authorized by law to grant permits for the ap10 propriation of water has granted such permits to the 

11 Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the De12 partment of the Navy and the District as permittees 

13 for rights to the use of water for storage and diver14 sion as provided in this Act, including approval of all 

15 requisite changes in points of diversion and storage, 

16 and purposes and places of use. 

17 (3) The District has agreed that it will not as18 sert against the United States any prior appropria19 tive right the District may have to water in excess 

20 of the quantity deliverable to it under this Act, and 

21 will share in the use of the waters impounded by the 

22 Project on the basis of equal priority and in accord23 ance with the ratio prescribed in section 4(b). This 

24 agreement and waiver and the changes in points of 

25 diversion and storage under paragraph (2), shall be-
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1 come effective and binding only when the Project 

2 has been completed and put into operation. 

3 (4) The Secretary has determined that the 

4 Project has economic, environmental, and engineer5 ing feasibility. 

6 SEC. 3. COSTS. 

7 The Department of the Navy shall not be responsible 

8 for any costs in connection with the Project, except upon 

9 completion and then shall be charged in reasonable pro10 portion to its use of the Project under regulations agreed 

11 upon by the Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the 

12 Interior. 

13 SEC. 4. OPERATION; YIELD ALLOTMENT; DELIVERY. 

14 (a) OPERATION.—The operation of the Project, sub15 ject to a memorandum of agreement between the Sec16 retary, the Navy, and the District and under regulations 

17 satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy with respect to 

18 the Navy’s share of the project, may be by the Secretary, 

19 the District, or a third party consistent with section 6. 

20 (b) YIELD ALLOTMENT.—Except as otherwise agreed 

21 between the parties, the Department of the Navy and the 

22 District shall participate in the Project yield on the basis 

23 of equal priority and in accordance with the following 

24 ratio: 
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1 (1) 60 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 

2 to the Secretary of the Navy. 

3 (2) 40 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 

4 to the District. 

5 (c) CONTRACTS FOR DELIVERY OF EXCESS

6 WATER.—

7 (1) EXCESS WATER AVAILABLE TO OTHER PER8 SONS.—If the Secretary of the Navy certifies to the 

9 official agreed upon to administer the Project that 

10 the Department of the Navy does not have imme11 diate need for any portion of the 60 percent of the 

12 Project’s yield allotted to the Secretary of the Navy 

13 under subsection (b), the official may enter into tem14 porary contracts for the sale and delivery of the ex15 cess water. 

16 (2) FIRST RIGHT FOR EXCESS WATER.—The 

17 first right to excess water to be made available 

18 under paragraph (1) shall be given the District, if 

19 otherwise consistent with the laws of the State of 

20 California. 

21 (3) CONDITION OF CONTRACTS.—Each contract 

22 entered into under paragraph (1) for the sale and 

23 delivery of excess water shall include a condition 

24 that the Secretary of the Navy has the right to de25 mand that water, without charge and without obliga-
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1 tion on the part of the United States, after 30 days 

2 notice. 

3 (4) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGA4 TIONS RELATED TO WATER YIELD.—The rights and 

5 obligations of the United States and the District re6 garding the ratio or amounts of Project yield deliv7 ered may be modified by an agreement between the 

8 parties. 

9 (d) CONSIDERATION.—

10 (1) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—Moneys paid to the 

11 United States under a contract entered into under 

12 subsection (c) shall be deposited in the special ac13 count established for the Department of the Navy 

14 under paragraph (1) of section 2667(d) of title 10, 

15 United States Code, and shall be available for the 

16 purposes specified in subparagraph (C) of such 

17 paragraph. Subparagraph (D) of such paragraph 

18 shall not apply to moneys deposited in the special 

19 account pursuant to this subsection. 

20 (2) IN-KIND CONSIDERATION.—In lieu of mone21 tary consideration under paragraph (1), or in addi22 tion to such consideration, the Secretary of the Navy 

23 may accept in-kind consideration in a form and 

24 quantity that is acceptable to the Secretary of the 
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1 Navy, including the following forms of in-kind con2 sideration: 

3 (A) Maintenance, protection, alteration, re4 pair, improvement, or restoration (including en5 vironmental restoration) of property or facilities 

6 of the Department of the Navy. 

7 (B) Construction of new facilities for the 

8 Department of the Navy. 

9 (C) Provision of facilities for use by the 

10 Department of the Navy. 

11 (D) Facilities operation support for the 

12 Department of the Navy. 

13 (E) Provision of such other services as the 

14 Secretary of the Navy considers appropriate. 

15 (3) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Sections 

16 2662 and 2802 of title 10, United States Code, shall 

17 not apply to any new facilities whose construction is 

18 accepted as in-kind consideration under this sub19 section. 

20 (4) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—If the in21 kind consideration proposed to be provided under a 

22 contract to be entered into under subsection (c) has 

23 a value in excess of $500,000, the contract may not 

24 be entered into until the earlier of the following: 
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1 (A) The end of the 30-day period begin2 ning on the date on which a report describing 

3 the contract and the form and quantity of the 

4 in-kind consideration is submitted by the Sec5 retary of the Navy to the Committee on Armed 

6 Services of the Senate and the Committee on 

7 Armed Services of the House of Representa8 tives. 

9 (B) The end of the 14-day period begin10 ning on the date on which a copy of the report 

11 referred to in subparagraph (A) is provided in 

12 an electronic medium pursuant to section 480 

13 of title 10, United States Code. 

14 SEC. 5. REPAYMENT OBLIGATION OF THE DISTRICT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The general repayment obligation 

16 of the District shall be determined by the Secretary of the 

17 Interior consistent with the Water Supply Act of 1958; 

18 provided, however, that for the purposes of calculating in19 terest and determining the time when the District’s repay20 ment obligation to the United States commences, the 

21 pumping and treatment of groundwater from the Project 

22 shall be deemed equivalent to the first use of water from 

23 a water storage project. There shall be no repayment obli24 gation under this section for water delivered to the Dis25 trict under a contract as provided in section 4(c). 
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1 (b) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATION BY

2 AGREEMENT.—The rights and obligations of the United 

3 States and the District regarding the repayment obliga4 tion of the District may be modified by an agreement be5 tween the parties. 

6 SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTE7 NANCE. 

8 The Secretary may transfer to the District, or a mu9 tually agreed upon third party, the care, operation, and 

10 maintenance of the Project under conditions satisfactory 

11 to the Secretary and the District, and with respect to the 

12 portion of the Project that is located within the boundaries 

13 of Camp Pendleton, satisfactory also to the Secretary of 

14 the Navy. If such a transfer takes place, the District shall 

15 be entitled to an equitable credit for the costs associated 

16 with the Secretary’s proportionate share of the operation 

17 and maintenance of the Project. The amount of such costs 

18 shall be applied against the indebtedness of the District 

19 to the United States. 

20 SEC. 7. SCOPE OF ACT. 

21 For the purpose of this Act, the basis, measure, and 

22 limit of all rights of the United States pertaining to the 

23 use of water shall be the laws of the State of California. 

24 That nothing in this Act shall be construed—
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1 (1) as a grant or a relinquishment by the 

2 United States of any rights to the use of water that 

3 it acquired according to the laws of the State of 

4 California, either as a result of its acquisition of the 

5 lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and 

6 adjoining naval installations, and the rights to the 

7 use of water as a part of that acquisition, or through 

8 actual use or prescription or both since the date of 

9 that acquisition, if any; 

10 (2) to create any legal obligation to store any 

11 water in the Project, to the use of which the United 

12 States has such rights; 

13 (3) to constitute a recognition of, or an admis14 sion that, the District has any rights to the use of 

15 water in the Santa Margarita River, which rights, if 

16 any, exist only by virtue of the laws of the State of 

17 California; or 

18 (4) to require the division under this Act of 

19 water to which the United States has such rights. 

20 SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON OPERATION AND ADMINISTRA21 TION. 

22 Unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the 

23 Navy, the Project—

24 (1) shall be operated in a manner which allows 

25 the free passage of all of the water to the use of 
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1 which the United States is entitled according to the 

2 laws of the State of California either as a result of 

3 its acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph 

4 H. Pendleton and adjoining naval installations, and 

5 the rights to the use of water as a part of those ac6 quisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or 

7 both, since the date of that acquisition, if any; and 

8 (2) shall not be administered or operated in any 

9 way which will impair or deplete the quantities of 

10 water the use of which the United States would be 

11 entitled under the laws of the State of California 

12 had the Project not been built. 

13 SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any 

15 money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise 

16 appropriated, the following: 

17 (1) $60,000,000 (the current estimated con18 struction cost of the Project, plus or minus such 

19 amounts as may be indicated by the engineering cost 

20 indices for this type of construction); and 

21 (2) such sums as may be required to operate 

22 and maintain the said project. 

23 SEC. 10. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 

24 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 

25 of this Act and periodically thereafter, the Secretary and 
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1 the Secretary of the Navy shall each report to the Con2 gress regarding if the conditions specified in section 2(b) 

3 have been met and if so, the details of how they were met. 

4 SEC. 11. SUNSET. 

5 The authority of the Secretary to complete construc6 tion of the Project shall terminate 10 years after the date 

7 of enactment of this Act.

Passed the House of Representatives December 13, 

2005. 

Attest:

Clerk. 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 125

AN ACT

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to confor other purposes. from the Santa Margarita River, California, and municipal, domestic, military, and other uses struct facilities to provide water for irrigation,