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The Upper Basins' Political Conundrum: A Deal is Not a Deal government, but the O&M costs of separate features devoted to these purposes must be borne by anon-federal entity. 6. On man ro'ects, if irri ators lack the ability to pay both O&M costs YP J g and construction costs, then they have to pay only O&M costs and such portion of the construction costs allocable to irrigation purposes as are within their "ability to pay." The portion of construction costs which exceeds irrigators' ability to pay is recovered by increasing the charges to those who purchase hydropower from a project (i.e., the power users bear not only the O&M and construction costs allocable to the power function, but also a portion of the construction costs, although without interest, allocable to the irrigation purpose). Obviously, the federal reclamation program constituted a very attractive subsidy to those interested in water development. Not surprisingly, this set the stage for numerous conflicts, and eventual political compromises and agreements, between upper and lower basin interests as each sought to gain a share of the Congressional dollars which flowed into the federal reclamation program.30 The stakes, measured in terms of regional economic development, were very large. Federal Flood Control and Navigation Projects Federal involvement in navigation improvements to the Nation's rivers dates back to the very early 1800x, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was first authorized to remove snags from the Mississippi River. Over the course of that century, vast numbers of projects -- from removal of snags, to the dredging of channels, to the construction of dams and locks -- were authorized in the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri and other major rivers of the Nation. In general, both the cost of constructing capital improvements, and the cost of operating and maintaining them, were borne by the federal government, with there being no requirement for the repayment of these costs by benefitted users until recently. g0 More than $16 billion dollars have been invested in reclamation projects. These projects deliver water annually to about 28 million people and about 10 million acres of irrigated land (which is about one-third of the irrigated acreage in the 17 western states), they generate approximately 60 billion kilowatt hours each year (making the Bureau of Reclamation the nation's second largest producer of hydroelectric power and 11th largest electric utility, based on generating capacity), they provide water-based recreation to about 80 million visitors each year, and they have prevented nearly $200 million in average annual flood damages between 1950 and 1990. 12 ,