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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. ~ <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />O. All water use projects requiring a right-of-way shall be recorded . <br />on the master title plat (MTP) when the authorizing document, i.e., right-of- <br />way grant, is recorded (see following Procedures for Processing Water Use <br />Applications). <br /> <br />P. Sale of Water. The Bureau cannot charge a fee for the use of water <br />originating on or under the public lands irrespective of whether the water in <br />question is reserved, unreserved, or unapproprtateQ~or-1f-tITe-applicant-ts <br />a holder of a State appropriative water right. The Congress, through the <br />Desert Land Act and its predecessor acts, severed the water from the land and <br />authorized the appropriation and use of unaporopriated water on the public <br />domain by the States and private parties without charge by the United States. <br />FLPMA does not change this provision of law. There are provisions in FLPMA <br />such as section S04(b) that authorize and direct the Secretary to charge fair <br />market value for the use of the land~fiat is needed-for a rignt-of-way to <br />get to the water source on the public lands, but these provisions do not <br />authorize BLM to also charge an additional fee for the use of the water. <br />There is one specific exception to this policy and that is that water can be <br />sold under the authority of the Oil and Gas Well Conversion Act of June 16, <br />1934, 30 DoS.C. 229a, from a~andoned oil and gas wells capable of producing <br />water "of such quality and quantity as to be valuable and usable at a <br />reasonable cost." This authority applies only to water reservations from <br />abandoned oil and gas wells. No other authority has been found that provides <br />a specific legal basis for selling water. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Procedures for Processing Water Use Applications <br /> <br />The following is a brief outline of filing procedures which will allow the <br />public to use water from a reserved or nonreserved public source on the public <br />land. If this water is to be impounded, stored, transported, or distributed <br />on or across the public lands, then, pursuant to Title V of FLP}~, a right- <br />of-way (R/W) permit is required of the applicant. In conjunction with the <br />R/W, a Notification of Proposed Water Use is filed concurrently with the <br />R/W application. See Attachment I for a sample Notification form. <br /> <br />Notification of Prooosed Water Use. All proposed water projects on <br />the public lands require that a completed Notification form be submitted <br />by the applicant, together with the R/W application, to the District Office <br />having jurisdiction over the proposed project site. The District hydrologist <br />receives the Notification form and makes the determination as to the <br />availability of the water source for development and/or utilization. He <br />further establishes whether the water source has been reserved by the Federal <br />Government, or if the applicant should file for a State appropriative water <br />right. No additional application forms are required if the water source <br />under consideration will be used and had been reserved as (1) a stock <br />driveway waterhole; (2) a mineral or medicinal spring; (3) a converted oil <br /> <br />. <br />