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that was authority to increase the monetary allotment, for this purpose at any single locality for anyone fis cal year, from $400,000 to one million dollars. The 1962 Flood Control Act also authoriz.es the Chief of Engineers, under supervision of the Secretary of the Army, to construct, maintain, and operate public park and recreational facilities at water i resource development projects. Previously our authority extended only to reselfvoirs. By this action the authority is broadened to include all water resource projects when the reql,lirement is found to be warranted. These broadening authoritie,l> serve to emphasize that one of the major problems confronting the States is competition or priorities of water use. Think- ingin this field has changed in recent years and priorities established several decades back have been superseded. Today pr~orities vary according to needs for municipal, industrial, irrigation, navigati~n, recreation and other uses. Uses such as recreation, fish and wildlife, and, water quality control have become of increasing importance in recent years. We ican expect, and even should antici- pate that as the population increases and development proceeds, today's priorities will probably change again in significance. In determining allocation of costs of water from storage projects, the Corps of Engineers has generally followed. the proced\.tre of deducting the seperable cost for each multiple purpose from the total cost of the project and dividing the remain- ing costs in proportion to the benefits that eac~ project feature will contribute. In general, costs allocated to flood control, co~mercial navigation, water quality control, fish and wildlife purposes, and low flow regulation are non-reimbursable items unless the benefits derived may be entirely localor a windfall to a few individuals. A large segment of recreation costs is under~written by the Federal Government. The Water Supply Act of 1958 provides Federal Assistance to en- courage full development of our water conservation by providing, interest free, a 10-year development period for the agency whi!ch will use the water and then a 50-year repayment period at the very low Federal rate of interest. , From this you can see the importance which our President and. the members of Congress place on the comprehensive develqpment of our river basins. And I want to emphasize that the Corps of Engineers i is prosecuting the job of water resource planning in cooperation with local, State, and other Federal agencies, to develop the most effective use of water resources. We, in the Corps are pro- ceeding under the concept that projects, regardless of who may build them, should contribute to the preservation, conservation, ~nd efficient use of waters of each river system, to the maximum extent. And.further that water development should be planned in a manner that will support the State and national economic. growth rate. We are mindful that every river basin plan, n~ matter how comprehensive or how far reaching it is at the time it is completed, *,ustbe reviewed and altered from time to time to accommodate the constant charige of an expanding economy such as ours. We are equally mindful that today's construction commits resources on a long term basis in the service of a dynamic society. - 24 - I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I