An Act to amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act.
PL 84-1018 (H.R.8750), enacted 08/07/1956

1088 
PUBLIC LAW 1018-AUG. 7, 1956 
[70 
S T A T . 
August 7, 1956 
[H. R. 8750] 
Public Law 1018 
CHAPTER 1027 
AN ACT 
To amend the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act. 
amendment Sa 
16 u s e 
100 1 
note. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
tecuwT'and Flood United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Watershed 
Prevention Act, Protection and Flood Prevention Act (68 Stat. 666) is amended as 
follows: 
(a) Amend the second and third sentences of section 2 to read as 
follows: " 'Works of improvement'—any undertaking for— 
"(1) flood prevention (including structural and land treatment 
measures) or 
"(2) the conservation, development, utilization, and disposal of 
water 
in watershed or subw^atershed areas not exceeding two hundred and 
fifty thousand acres and not including any single structure which 
provides more than five thousand acre-feet of floodwater detention 
capacity, and more than twenty-five thousand acre-feet of total 
capacity. No appropriation shall be made for any plan involving an 
estimated Federal contribution to construction costs in excess of 
$250,000, or which includes any structure which provides more than 
twenty-five hundred acre-feet of total capacity unless such plan has 
been approved by resolutions adopted by the appropriate committees of 
the Senate and House of Representatives: Provided, That in the case 
of any plan involving no single structure providing more than 4,000 
acre-feet of total capacity the appropriate committees shall be the 
Committee on Agriculture and Forestry of the Senate and the Com-
mittee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and in the case 
of any plan involving any single structure of more than 4,000 acre-feet 
of total capacity the appropriate committees shall be the Committee 
on Public Works of the Senate and the Committee on Public Works 
of the House of Representatives, respectively." 
(b) Amend section 3 by striking out clause (2), and inserting in 
lieu thereof the following: 
"(2) to prepare plans and estimates required for adequate en-
gineering evaluation; 
"(3) to make allocations of costs to the various purposes to 
show the basis of such allocations and to determine whether bene-
fits exceed costs;" 
and by renumbering clauses (3) and (4) as (4) and (5) respectively. 
(c) Amend clause (2) of section 4 to read as follows: 
"(2) assume (A) such proportionate share, as is determined b j 
the Secretary to be equitable in consideration of the direct identi-
fiable benefits, of the costs of installing any works of improve-
ment, involving Federal assistance, which is applicable to the 
agricultural phases of the conservation, development, utilization, 
and disposal of water, and (B) all of the cost of installing any 
portion of such works applicable to other purposes except that 
any part of the construction cost (including engineering costs) 
applicable to flood prevention and features relating thereto shall 
be borne by the Federal Government and paid for by the Secretary 
out of funds appropriated for the purposes of this Act;". 
(d) Add after the word "landowners" in clause (4) in section 4, the 
words "or water users". 
(e) Strike out the word "and" at the end of clause (4) in section 4; 
strike out the period at the end of clause (5) and insert in lieu thereof 
a semicolon and the word "and"; and after clause (5) insert a new 
clause as follows: 
16 u s e 1003. 
16 u s e 1004. 
70 S T A T . ] 
PUBUC LAW 1018-AUG. 7, 1956 
1089 
"(6) submit a plan of repayment satisfactory to the Secretary 
for any loan or advancement made under the provisions of section 
8." 
(f) Amend section 5 to read as follows: 
"SEC. 5. At such time as the Secretary and the interested local organ-
ization have agreed on a plan for works of improvement, and the Sec-
retary has determined that the benefits exceed the costs, and the local 
organization has met the requirements for participation in carrying 
out the works of improvement as set forth in section 4, the local or-
ganization with such assistance as it may request from the Secretary, 
which assistance the Secretary is hereby authorized to give, shall secure 
engineering and other services, including the design, preparation of 
contracts and specifications, awarding of contracts, and supervision 
of construction, in connection with such works of improvement, and 
in order to properly carry out such services in such projects as to such 
structures therein providing for municipal or industrial water sup-
plies, the local organization shall, and in such projects not providing 
for municipal or industrial water supplies, the local organization may, 
retain or employ a professional engineer or engineers satisfactory 
to the Secretary, and the Secretary shall reimburse the local organiza-
tion for the cost it may incur for the services of such engineer or 
engineers as is properly chargeable to such works of improvement, 
except that if the local organization decides not to retain or employ 
a professional engineer or if the Secretary determines that competent 
engineering services are not available he may contract for a competent 
engineer to provide such services or arrange for employees of the Fed-
eral Government to provide such services: Provided^ That at the re-
quest of the local organization which retains or employs a professional 
engineer or engineers as aforesaid, the Secretary may advance such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for such services, but such ad-
vances with respect to any works of improvement shall not exceed 5 
per centum of the estimated total cost of such works: Provided 
further^ 
That, except as to the installation of works of improvement on Fed-
eral lands, the Secretary shall not construct or enter into any contract 
for the construction of any structure unless there is no local organiza-
tion authorized by State law to undertake such construction or to 
enter into such contract, and in no event after July 1, 1956: Provided^ 
That in participating in the installation of such works of improvement 
the Secretary, as far as practicable and consistent with his responsi-
bilities for administering the overall national agricultural program, 
shall utilize the authority conferred upon him by the provisions of 
this Act: Provided 
further. 
That whenever the estimated Federal 
contribution to the construction cost of works of improvement in any 
watershed or sub 
watershed area shall exceed $250,0(K) or the works of 
improvement include any structure having a total capacity in excess 
of twenty-five hundred acre-feet, the Secretary shall transmit a copy 
of the plan and the justification therefor to the Congress through the 
President: Provided further^ That any such plan involving an esti-
mated Federal contribution to construction costs in excess of $250,000 
or containing any structure having a total capacity in excess of 
twenty-five hundred acre-feet (a) which includes reclamation or irri-
gation works or which affects public or other lands or wildlife under 
the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, or (b) which includes 
Federal assistance for floodwater detention structures, shall be sub-
mitted to the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of the Army, 
respectively, for his views and recommendations at least thirty days 
])rior to transmission of the plan to the Congress through the Presi-
dent. 
The views and recommendations of the Secretary of the In-
terior, and the Secretary of the Army, if received by the Secretary of 
16 u s e 1005. 
Works 
of 
provement. 
i m -
T r a n s m l t t a l of 
plan to Congress. 
69225 O - 57 - 73 ( V o l . 70) 
1090 
PUBLIC LAW 1019-AUQ. 7, 1956 
[70 STAT. 
Rules and regu-
lations. 
L o a n s to local 
organizations. 
^plicability 
Act. 
of 
Agriculture prior to the expiration of the above thirty-day period, 
shall accompany the plan transmitted by the Secretary of Agriculture 
to the Congress through the President: Provided further^ That, prior 
to any Federal participation in the works improvement under this 
Act, the President shall issue such rules and regulations as he deems 
necessary or desirable to carry out the purj)oses of this Act, and to 
assure the coordination of the work authorized under this Act and 
related work of other agencies including the Department of the In-
terior and the Department of the Army." 
(g) After section 7 insert the following two new sections and 
renumber subsequent sections of the Act to conform: 
"SEC. 8. The Secretary is authorized to make loans or advance-
ments to local organizations to finance the local share of costs of 
carrying out works of improvement provided for in this Act. 
Such 
loans or advancements shall be made under contracts or agreements 
which will provide, under such terms and conditions as the Secretary 
deems appropriate, for the repayment thereof in not more than fifty 
years from the date when the principal benefits of the works of im-
provement first become available, with interest at the average rate, 
as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, payable by the 
Treasury upon its marketable public obligations outstanding at the 
beginning of the fiscal year in which the loan or advancement is made, 
which are neither due nor callable for redemption for fifteen years 
from date of issue. With respect to any single plan for works of 
improvement, the amount of any such loan or advancement shall not 
exceed five million dollars. 
"SEC. 9. The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to Hawaii, 
Alaska, Puerto Kico, and the Virgin Islands." 
SEC. 2. The amendments made by this Act shall be applicable to 
all works of improvement and plans for such works under the pro-
visions of the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act. Any 
plans for works of improvement with respect to which the Secretary 
of Agriculture was authorized prior to the date of this Act to partici-
pate in the installation of works of improvement in accordance with 
such plan, or any plan for works of improvement which has received 
prior to the date of this Act the approval of congressional commit-
tees, as required by such Act, need not be submitted to the congres-
sional committees as required by the Watershed Protection and Flood 
Prevention Act as amended by this Act. 
Approved August 7,1956. 
August 7, 1956 
[H. R. 9874] 
Public Law 1019 
CHAPTER 1028 
AN ACT 
To authorize Canadian vessels to be employed in tlie coastwise transportation 
of coal to Ogdensburg, New York. 
C anadian ves-
sels. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That until June 30, 
1957, notwithstanding the provisions of law of the United States re-
stricting to vessels of the United States the transportation of merchan-
dise, directly or indirectly, from any port in the United States to 
another port of the United States, Canadian vessels may transport 
coal to Ogdensburg, New York, from other points in the United 
States, on the Great Lakes, or their connecting or tributary waters. 
Approved August 7, 1956.