109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 125
AN ACT 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct facili-
ties to provide water for irrigation, municipal, domestic, 
military, and other uses from the Santa Margarita River, 
California, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
apply: 
(1) DISTRICT.—The term ‘‘District’’ means the 
Fallbrook Public Utility District, San Diego County, 
California. 
(2) PROJECT.—The term ‘‘Project’’ means the 
impoundment, recharge, treatment, and other facili-
ties the construction, operation, watershed manage-
ment, and maintenance of which is authorized under 
section 2. 
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, unless otherwise stat-
ed. 
SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SANTA 
MARGARITA RIVER PROJECT. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—The Secretary, acting pursu-
ant to the Federal reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 
1902; 32 Stat. 388), and Acts amendatory thereof or sup-
plementary thereto, as far as those laws are not incon-
sistent with the provisions of this Act, is authorized to 
construct, operate, and maintain the Project substantially 
in accordance with the final feasibility report and this Act. 
(b) CONDITIONS.—The Secretary may construct the 
Project only after the Secretary determines that the fol-
lowing conditions have occurred:
(1) The District has entered into a contract 
under section 9(d) of the Reclamation Project Act of 
1939 to repay to the United States appropriate por-
tions, as determined by the Secretary, of the actual 
costs of constructing, operating, and maintaining the 
Project, together with interest as hereinafter pro-
vided. 
(2) The officer or agency of the State of Cali-
fornia authorized by law to grant permits for the ap-
propriation of water has granted such permits to the 
Bureau of Reclamation for the benefit of the De-
partment of the Navy and the District as permittees 
for rights to the use of water for storage and diver-
sion as provided in this Act, including approval of all 
requisite changes in points of diversion and storage, 
and purposes and places of use. 
(3) The District has agreed that it will not as-
sert against the United States any prior appropria-
tive right the District may have to water in excess 
of the quantity deliverable to it under this Act, and 
will share in the use of the waters impounded by the 
Project on the basis of equal priority and in accord-
ance with the ratio prescribed in section 4(b). This 
agreement and waiver and the changes in points of 
diversion and storage under paragraph (2), shall be-
come effective and binding only when the Project 
has been completed and put into operation. 
(4) The Secretary has determined that the 
Project has economic, environmental, and engineer-
ing feasibility. 
SEC. 3. COSTS. 
The Department of the Navy shall not be responsible 
for any costs in connection with the Project, except upon 
completion and then shall be charged in reasonable pro-
portion to its use of the Project under regulations agreed 
upon by the Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of the 
Interior. 
SEC. 4. OPERATION; YIELD ALLOTMENT; DELIVERY. 
(a) OPERATION.—The operation of the Project, sub-
ject to a memorandum of agreement between the Sec-
retary, the Navy, and the District and under regulations 
satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy with respect to 
the Navy’s share of the project, may be by the Secretary, 
the District, or a third party consistent with section 6. 
(b) YIELD ALLOTMENT.—Except as otherwise agreed 
between the parties, the Department of the Navy and the 
District shall participate in the Project yield on the basis 
of equal priority and in accordance with the following 
ratio:
(1) 60 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 
to the Secretary of the Navy. 
(2) 40 percent of the Project’s yield is allotted 
to the District. 
(c) 
CONTRACTS
FOR
DELIVERY
OF
EXCESS 
WATER.—
(1) EXCESS WATER AVAILABLE TO OTHER PER-
SONS.—If the Secretary of the Navy certifies to the 
official agreed upon to administer the Project that 
the Department of the Navy does not have imme-
diate need for any portion of the 60 percent of the 
Project’s yield allotted to the Secretary of the Navy 
under subsection (b), the official may enter into tem-
porary contracts for the sale and delivery of the ex-
cess water. 
(2) FIRST
RIGHT
FOR
EXCESS
WATER.—The 
first right to excess water to be made available 
under paragraph (1) shall be given the District, if 
otherwise consistent with the laws of the State of 
California. 
(3) CONDITION OF CONTRACTS.—Each contract 
entered into under paragraph (1) for the sale and 
delivery of excess water shall include a condition 
that the Secretary of the Navy has the right to de-
mand that water, without charge and without obliga-
tion on the part of the United States, after 30 days 
notice. 
(4) MODIFICATION
OF
RIGHTS
AND
OBLIGA-
TIONS RELATED TO WATER YIELD.—The rights and 
obligations of the United States and the District re-
garding the ratio or amounts of Project yield deliv-
ered may be modified by an agreement between the 
parties. 
(d) CONSIDERATION.—
(1) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—Moneys paid to the 
United States under a contract entered into under 
subsection (c) shall be deposited in the special ac-
count established for the Department of the Navy 
under paragraph (1) of section 2667(d) of title 10, 
United States Code, and shall be available for the 
purposes specified in subparagraph (C) of such 
paragraph. Subparagraph (D) of such paragraph 
shall not apply to moneys deposited in the special 
account pursuant to this subsection. 
(2) IN-KIND CONSIDERATION.—In lieu of mone-
tary consideration under paragraph (1), or in addi-
tion to such consideration, the Secretary of the Navy 
may accept in-kind consideration in a form and 
quantity that is acceptable to the Secretary of the
Navy, including the following forms of in-kind con-
sideration: 
(A) Maintenance, protection, alteration, re-
pair, improvement, or restoration (including en-
vironmental restoration) of property or facilities 
of the Department of the Navy. 
(B) Construction of new facilities for the 
Department of the Navy. 
(C) Provision of facilities for use by the 
Department of the Navy. 
(D) Facilities operation support for the 
Department of the Navy. 
(E) Provision of such other services as the 
Secretary of the Navy considers appropriate. 
(3) RELATION
TO
OTHER
LAWS.—Sections 
2662 and 2802 of title 10, United States Code, shall 
not apply to any new facilities whose construction is 
accepted as in-kind consideration under this sub-
section. 
(4) CONGRESSIONAL NOTIFICATION.—If the in-
kind consideration proposed to be provided under a 
contract to be entered into under subsection (c) has 
a value in excess of $500,000, the contract may not 
be entered into until the earlier of the following:
(A) The end of the 30-day period begin-
ning on the date on which a report describing 
the contract and the form and quantity of the 
in-kind consideration is submitted by the Sec-
retary of the Navy to the Committee on Armed 
Services of the Senate and the Committee on 
Armed Services of the House of Representa-
tives. 
(B) The end of the 14-day period begin-
ning on the date on which a copy of the report 
referred to in subparagraph (A) is provided in 
an electronic medium pursuant to section 480 
of title 10, United States Code. 
SEC. 5. REPAYMENT OBLIGATION OF THE DISTRICT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The general repayment obligation 
of the District shall be determined by the Secretary of the 
Interior consistent with the Water Supply Act of 1958; 
provided, however, that for the purposes of calculating in-
terest and determining the time when the District’s repay-
ment obligation to the United States commences, the 
pumping and treatment of groundwater from the Project 
shall be deemed equivalent to the first use of water from 
a water storage project. There shall be no repayment obli-
gation under this section for water delivered to the Dis-
trict under a contract as provided in section 4(c).
(b) MODIFICATION OF RIGHTS AND OBLIGATION BY 
AGREEMENT.—The rights and obligations of the United 
States and the District regarding the repayment obliga-
tion of the District may be modified by an agreement be-
tween the parties. 
SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF CARE, OPERATION, AND MAINTE-
NANCE. 
The Secretary may transfer to the District, or a mu-
tually agreed upon third party, the care, operation, and 
maintenance of the Project under conditions satisfactory 
to the Secretary and the District, and with respect to the 
portion of the Project that is located within the boundaries 
of Camp Pendleton, satisfactory also to the Secretary of 
the Navy. If such a transfer takes place, the District shall 
be entitled to an equitable credit for the costs associated 
with the Secretary’s proportionate share of the operation 
and maintenance of the Project. The amount of such costs 
shall be applied against the indebtedness of the District 
to the United States. 
SEC. 7. SCOPE OF ACT. 
For the purpose of this Act, the basis, measure, and 
limit of all rights of the United States pertaining to the 
use of water shall be the laws of the State of California. 
That nothing in this Act shall be construed—
(1) as a grant or a relinquishment by the 
United States of any rights to the use of water that 
it acquired according to the laws of the State of 
California, either as a result of its acquisition of the 
lands comprising Camp Joseph H. Pendleton and 
adjoining naval installations, and the rights to the 
use of water as a part of that acquisition, or through 
actual use or prescription or both since the date of 
that acquisition, if any; 
(2) to create any legal obligation to store any 
water in the Project, to the use of which the United 
States has such rights; 
(3) to constitute a recognition of, or an admis-
sion that, the District has any rights to the use of 
water in the Santa Margarita River, which rights, if 
any, exist only by virtue of the laws of the State of 
California; or 
(4) to require the division under this Act of 
water to which the United States has such rights. 
SEC. 8. LIMITATIONS ON OPERATION AND ADMINISTRA-
TION. 
Unless otherwise agreed by the Secretary of the 
Navy, the Project—
(1) shall be operated in a manner which allows 
the free passage of all of the water to the use of
which the United States is entitled according to the 
laws of the State of California either as a result of 
its acquisition of the lands comprising Camp Joseph 
H. Pendleton and adjoining naval installations, and 
the rights to the use of water as a part of those ac-
quisitions, or through actual use or prescription, or 
both, since the date of that acquisition, if any; and 
(2) shall not be administered or operated in any 
way which will impair or deplete the quantities of 
water the use of which the United States would be 
entitled under the laws of the State of California 
had the Project not been built. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated, out of any 
money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise 
appropriated, the following: 
(1) $60,000,000 (the current estimated con-
struction cost of the Project, plus or minus such 
amounts as may be indicated by the engineering cost 
indices for this type of construction); and 
(2) such sums as may be required to operate 
and maintain the said project. 
SEC. 10. REPORTS TO CONGRESS. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this Act and periodically thereafter, the Secretary and
the Secretary of the Navy shall each report to the Con-
gress regarding if the conditions specified in section 2(b) 
have been met and if so, the details of how they were met. 
SEC. 11. SUNSET. 
The authority of the Secretary to complete construc-
tion of the Project shall terminate 10 years after the date 
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 con-
struct facilities to provide water for irrigation, 
municipal, domestic, military, and other uses 
from the Santa Margarita River, California, and 
for other purposes.