An Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct the San Luis unit of the Central Valley project, California, to enter into an agreement with the State of California with respect to the construction and operation of such unit, and for other
PL 86-488 (S.44), enacted 06/03/1960

156 
PUBLIC LAW 86-488-JUNE 3, 1960 
[74 ST A T . 
Public Law 86-488 
June 3, 1960 
[S.44] 
Central V a l l e y 
Project, Calif. 
San Luis unit. 
Construction. 
AN ACT 
43 u s e 3 71 and 
note. 
P r e l i m i n a r y 
measures. 
Conditions. 
63 Stat. 1051. 
7 u s e 14 21 note. 
To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct the San Luis unit of the 
Central Valley project, California, to enter into an agreement with the State 
of California with respect to the construction and operation of such unit, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assemhled^ That (a) for the 
principal purpose of furnishing water for the irrigation of approxi-
mately five hundred thousand acres of land in Merced, Fresno, and 
Kings Counties, California, hereinafter referred to as the Federal 
San Luis unit service area, and as incidents thereto of furnishing 
water for municipal and domestic use and providing recreation and 
fish and wildlife benefits, the Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter 
referred to as the Secretary) is authorized to construct, operate, and 
maintain the San Luis unit as an integral part of the Central Valley 
project. 
The principal engineering features of said unit shall be a 
dam and reservoir at or near the San Luis site, a forebay and afterbay, 
the San Luis Canal, the Pleasant Valley Canal, and necessary pump-
ing plants, distribution systems, drains, channels, levees, flood works, 
and related facilities, but no facilities shall be constructed for electric 
transmission or distribution service w^hich the Secretary determines, 
on the basis of an offer of a firm fifty-year contract from a local public 
or private agency, can through such contract be obtained at less cost 
to the Federal Government than by construction and operation of 
Government facilities. 
The works (hereinafter referred to as joint-
use facilities) for joint use with the State of California (hereinafter 
referred to as the State) shall be the dam and reservoir at or near the 
San Luis site, f 
orebay and af 
terbay, pumping plants, and the San Luis 
Canal. The joint-use facilities consisting of the dam and reservoir 
shall be constructed, and other joint-use facilities may be constructed, 
so as to permit future expansion; or the joint-use facilities shall be 
constructed initially to the capacities necessary to serve both the 
Federal San Luis unit service area and the State's service area, as 
hereinafter provided. 
In constructing, operating, and maintaining 
the San Luis unit, the Secretary shall be governed by the Federal 
reclamation laws (Act of June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388), and Acts 
amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto). Construction of the 
San Luis unit shall not be commenced until the Secretary has (1) 
secured, or has satisfactory assurance of his ability to secure, all rights 
to the use of water which are necessary to carry out the purposes of 
the unit and the terms and conditions of this Act, and (2) received 
satisfactory assurance from the State of California that it will make 
])rovision for a master drainage outlet and disposal channel for the 
San Joaquin Valley, as generally outlined in the California water 
plan. Bulletin Numbered 3, of the California Department of Water 
Resources, which will adequately serve, by connection therewith, the 
drainage system for the San Luis unit or has made provision for 
constructing the San Luis interceptor drain to the delta designed to 
meet the drainage requirements of the San Luis unit as generally out-
lined in the report of the Department of the Interior, entitled "San 
Luis Unit, Central Valley Project," dated December it, 1956. 
(b) No water provided by the Federal San Luis unit shall be 
delivered in the Federal San Luis service area to any water user for 
the production on newly irrigated lands of any basic agricultural 
commodity, as defined in the Agricultural Act of 1949, or any amend-
ment thereof, if the total supply of such commodity as estimated bv 
the Secretary of Agriculture for the marketing year in which the bulk 
San Luis area. 
74 S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 8 6 - 4 8 8 - J U N E 3, 1960 
157 
of the crop would normally be marketed and which will be in excess 
of the normal supply as defined in section 301(b) (10) of the Agri-
cultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, imless the Secretary 
"us*c*i3oi(b) 
calls for an increase in production of such commodity in the interest 
of national security. 
SEC. 2. The Secretary is authorized, on behalf of the United States, 
Negotiation for 
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d e l i v e r y o u t s 1 d e 
to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the otate oi Caliiornia "
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providing for coordinated operation of the San Luis unit, including 
the joint-use facilities, in order that the State may, without cost to 
the United States, deliver water in service areas outside the Federal 
San Luis unit service area as described in the report of the Depart-
ment of the Interior, entitled "San Luis Unit, Central Valley Project", 
dated December 17, 1956. Said agreement shall recite that the lia-
bility of the United States thereunder is contingent upon the avail-
ability of appropriations to carry out its obligations under the same. 
No funds shall be appropriated to commence construction of the San 
Luis unit under any such agreement, except for the preparation of 
designs and specifications and other preliminary work, prior to ninety 
calendar days (which ninety days, however, shall not include days 
on which either the House of Representatives or the Senate is not in 
session because of an adjournment of more than three calendar days 
to a day certain) after it has been submitted to the Congress, and 
then only if neither the House nor the Senate Interior and Insular 
Affairs Committee has disapproved it by committee resolution within 
said ninety days. 
If such an agreement has not been executed by 
January 1, 1962, and if, after consultation with the Governor of the 
State, the Secretary determines that the prospects of reaching accord 
on the terms thereof are not reasonably firm, he may proceed to con-
struct and operate the San Luis unit in accordance with section 1 of 
this Act: Provided, That, if the Secretary so determines, he shall re-
port thereon to the Congress and shall not commence construction for 
ninety calendar days from the date of his report (which ninety days, 
however, shall not include days on which either the House of Repre-
sentatives or the Senate is not in session because of an adjournment 
of more than three days). In considering the prospects of reaching 
accord on the terms of the agreement the Secretary shall give substan-
tial weight to any relevant affirmative action theretofore taken by the 
State, including the enactment of State legislation authorizing the 
State to acquire and convey to the United States title to lands to be 
used for the San Luis unit or assistance given by it in financing Fed-
eral design and construction of the unit. 
The authority conferred 
upon the Secretary by the first sentence of this section shall not, except 
as is otherwise provided in this section, be construed as a limitation 
upon the exercise by him of the authority conferred in section 1 of this 
Act, but if the State shall agree that, if it later enlarges the joint-
use facilities, or any of them, it will pay an equitable share of the 
cost to the United States of those facilities as initially constructed 
before utilizing them for the storage or delivery of water and will 
bear the entire cost of enlarging the same and if, as a part of said 
equitable share, it makes available to the Secretary sufficient funds to 
paj^ the additional cost of designing and constructing the joint-use 
facilities so as to permit enlargement, it shall have an irrevocable 
right to enlarge or modify such facilities at any time in the future, 
and a perpetual right to the use of such additional capacity: Pro-
vided, That the performance of such work by the State, after approval 
of its plans by the Secretary, shall be so carried on as not to interfere 
unduly with the operation of the project for the purposes set forth 
in section 1 of this Act and the use of the additional capacity for 
water service shall be limited to service outside of the Federal San 
R ep or t to Con-
gress. 
Provisions. 
158 
PUBLIC LAW 86-488-JUNE 3, 1960 
[74 STAT. 
Luis unit service area: And provided further, That this right may be 
relinquished by the State at any time at its option. 
SEC. 3. The agreement between the United States and the State 
referred to in section 2 of this Act shall provide, among other things, 
that— 
(a) the joint-use facilities to be constructed by the Secretary 
shall be so designed and constructed to such capacities and in 
such manner as to permit either (i) immediate integration and 
coordinated operation with the State's water projects by provid-
ing, among other things, a capacity in San Luis Reservoir of 
approximately two million one hundred thousand acre-feet and 
corresponding capacities in the other joint-use facilities or (ii) 
such subsequent enlargement or other modification as may be 
required for integration and coordinated operation therewith; 
(b) the State shall make available to the Secretary during the 
construction period sufficient funds to pay an equitable share of 
the construction costs of any facilities designed and constructed as 
provided in paragraph (a) above. The State contribution shall 
be made in annual installments, each of which bears approxi-
mately the same ratio to total expenditures during that year as 
the total of the State's share bears to the total cost of the facilities; 
the State may make advances to the United States in order to 
maintain a timely construction schedule of the joint-use facilities 
and the works of the San Luis unit to be used by the State and 
the United States ; 
(c) the State may at any time after approval of its plans by 
the Secretary and at its own expense enlarge or modify San Luis 
Dam and Reservoir and other facilities to be used jointly by the 
State and the United States, but the performance of such work 
shall be so carried on as not to interfere unduly with the operation 
of the San Luis unit for the purposes set forth in section 1 of 
this Act; 
(d) the United States and the State shall each pay annually 
an equitable share of the operation, maintenance, and replacement 
costs of the joint-use facilities; 
(e) promptly after execution of this agreement between the 
Secretary and the State, and for the purpose of said agreement, 
the State shall convey to the United States title to any lands, 
easements, and rights-of-way which it then owns and which are 
required for the joint-use facilities. 
The State shall be given 
credit for the costs of these lands, easements, and rights-of-way 
toward its share of the construction cost of the joint-use facilities. 
The State shall likewise be given credit for any funds advanced 
by it to the Secretary for preparation of designs and specifica-
tions or for any other work in connection with the joint-use 
facilities; 
(f) the rights to the use of capacities of the joint-use facilities 
of the San Luis unit shall be allocated to the United States and 
the State, respectively, in such manner as may be mutually agreed 
upon. The United States shall not be restricted in the exercise 
of its right so allocated, which shall be sufficient to carry out the 
purposes of section 1 of this Act and which shall extend through-
out the repayment period and so long thereafter as title to the 
works remains in the United States. The State shall not be 
restricted in the exercise of its allocated right to the use of the 
capacities of the joint-use facilities for water service outside the 
Federal San Luis unit service area; 
(g) the Secretary may turn over to the State the care, operation, 
and maintenance of any works of the San Luis unit which are used 
74 
S T A T . ] 
PUBLIC LAW 86-488-JUNE 3, 1960 
159 
jointly by the United States and the State at such time and under 
such conditions as shall be agreed upon by the Secretary and the 
State; 
(h) notwithstanding transfer of the care, operation, and main-
tenance of any works to the State, as hereinbefore provided, any 
organization which has theretofore entered into a contract with 
the United States under the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, and 
amendments thereto, for a water supply through the works of the 
San Luis unit, including joint-use facilities, shall continue to be 
subject to the same limitations and obligations and to have and to 
enjoy the same rights which it would have had under its contract 
with the United States and the provisions of paragraph (4) of 
section 1 of the Act of July 2,1956 (70 Stat. 483,43 U.S.C. 485h-l) 
in the absence of such transfer, and its enjoyment of such rights 
shall be without added cost or other detriment arising from such 
transfer; 
(i) if a nonreimbursable allocation to the preservation and 
propagation of fish and wildlife has been made as provided in 
section 2 of the Act of August 14, 1946 (60 Stat. 1080, 16 U.S.C. 
662), as amended, the features of the unit to which such alloca-
tion is attributable shall, notwithstanding transfer of the care, 
operation, and maintenance to the State, he operated and main-
tained in such wise as to retain the bases upon which such alloca-
tion is premised and, upon failure so to operate and maintain 
those features, the amount allocated thereto shall become a reim-
bursable cost to be paid by the State; 
(j) the State shall not serve any lands within the Federal San 
Luis unit service area except as such service is required as a con-
sequence of its acceptance of the care, operation, and mainte-
nance of works under paragraph (g) of this section. 
SEC. 4. If the Secretary proceeds to construct, operate, and maintain 
the San Luis works under the terms of section 1 of this Act solely 
as a Federal project, the operation shall be subject to the following 
restriction: Whenever the chlorides in the water at the head of the 
Delta-Mendota Canal exceed one hundred and fifty parts per million 
during the months of July, August, or September, the mean daily 
diversion from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to San Luis unit 
via Tracy j)umping plant and Delta-Mendota Canal as measured at 
the San Luis pumping plant shall not exceed the mean daily import 
to the Sacramento Valley from the Trinity project. 
SEC. 5. In constructing, operating, and maintaining a drainage sys-
tem for the San Luis unit, the Secretary is authorized to permit the 
use thereof by other parties under contracts the terms of which are 
as nearly similar as is practicable to those required by the Federal 
reclamation laws in the case of irrigation repayment or se>rvice con-
tracts and is further authorized to enter into agreements and partici-
pate in construction and operation of drainage facilities designed to 
serve the general area of which the lands to be served by the San Luis 
unit are a part, to the extent the works authorized in section 1 of this 
Act contribute to drainage requirements of said area. The Secretary 
is also authorized to permit the use of the irrigation facilities of the 
San Luis unit, including its facilities for supplying pumping energy, 
under contracts entered into pursuant to section 1 of the Act of 
February 21, 1911 (36 Stat. 925; 43 U.S.C. 523). 
SEC. 6. The Secretary is directed to plan the works authorized in 
this Act in such a manner as to contemplate and make possible the 
future provision of Central Valley project service, by way of the 
Pacheco Tunnel route, to lands and municipalities in Santa Clara, 
San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties heretofore antici-
53 Stat. 1187. 
43 u s e 4»5k. 
Restriction. 
U s e by others, 
agreements, etc. 
Service to other 
160 
PUBLIC LAW 86-489-JUNE 3, 1960 
[74 ST A T . 
Report, 
Recreational fa-
cilities. 
Appropriation. 
pated as a possibility by the Acts of October 14, 1949 (63 Stat. 852), 
and August 27,1958 (72 Stat. 937). Construction of additional works 
to provide such service shall not be undertaken until a report demon-
strating their physical and economic feasibility has been completed, 
reviewed by the State, and approved by the Secretary, and the works 
have been authorized by Act of Congress. 
SEC. 7. The Secretary is authorized, in connection with the San 
Luis unit, to construct minimum basic public recreational facilities 
and to arrange for the operation and maintenance of the same by the 
State or an appropriate local agency or organization. 
The cost of such 
facilities shall be nonreturnable and nonreimbursable under the Fed-
eral reclamation laws. 
SEG. 8. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated for construc-
tion of the works of the San Luis unit, including joint-use facilities, 
authorized by this Act, other than distribution systems and drains, 
the sum of $290,430,000, plus such additional amount, if" any, as may 
be required by reason of changes in costs of construction of the types 
involved in the San Luis unit as shown by engineering indexes. 
Said 
base sum of $290,430,000 shall, however, be diminished to the extent 
that the State makes funds or lands or interests in land available to 
the Secretary pursuant to sections 2 or 3 of this Act which decrease the 
costs which would be incurred if the works authorized in section 1 of 
of this Act (including provision for their subsequent expansion) were 
constructed solely as a Federal project. There are also authorized to 
be appropriated, in addition thereto, such amounts as are required (a) 
for construction of such distribution systems and drains as are not 
constructed by local interests, but not to exceed in total cost the sum 
of $192,650,000, and (b) for operation and maintenance of the unit: 
Pr(yvided^ That no funds shall be appropriated for construction 
of distribution systems and drains prior to ninety calendar days 
(which ninety days, however, shall not include days on which either 
the House of Representatives or the Senate is not in session because 
of an adjournment of more than three calendar days to a day certain) 
after a contract has been submitted to the Congress calling for com-
plete repayment of the distribution systems and drains within a period 
of forty years from the date such works are placed in service. All 
moneys received by the Secretary from the State under this Act shall 
be covered into the same accounts as moneys appropriated hereunder 
and shall be available, without further appropriation, to carry out 
the purposes of this Act. 
Approved June 3, 1960. 
June 3, 1960 
[S. 1605] 
Public Law 86-489 
AN ACT 
Granting the consent of Congress to the States of Kansas and Nebraska to 
negotiate and enter into a compact relating to the apportionment of the waters 
of the Big Blue River and its tributaries as they affect such States. 
Int erst at e c o n> 
pact. 
Kansas and Ne-
braska. 
Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That the consent of 
(^ongress is hereby given to the States of Kansas and Nebraska to nego-
tiate and enter into a compact relating to the interests of such States 
in the waters of the Big Blue River and all its tributaries, and pro-
viding for an equitable apportionment between said States of the 
waters of the Big Blue Eiver and its tributaries and for matters 
incident thereto: Provided^ That one qualified person appointed by 
the President of the United States shall participate in such negotia-