Laserfiche WebLink
<br />-, <br /> <br />purposes are those waters remaining in the streams in the Missouri <br />River Basin after development and use, present and future, pursuant <br />to respective state laws and, to the extent captured in Federal <br />reservoirs, become stored waters for accomplishment of Federal <br />purposes exclusively. The constraint imposed upon development <br />and use of the Basin's water supply pursuant to respective state <br />laws is that such development and use shall not exceed the <br />"natural flows" of the Missouri River and its tributaries which <br />were flowing in the Basin's streams prior to passage of the Flood <br />Control Act of 1944 and that would be flowing in the Basin's <br />streams had not the Federal reservoirs been built as authorized <br />by the Flood Control Act of 1944 and subsequent authorizing <br />legislation. These relationships conform with the position of <br />the Department of the Interior related to irrigation water use as <br />expressed in letter of April 27, 1970, to Governor Farrar (So. Dak.) <br />from Assistant Secretary of the Interior James R. Smith and conform <br />to Corps of Engineers operating policies for the corps Missouri <br />River reservoirs. <br /> <br />2. The numerical quantities of the water supplies of the <br />Missouri River Basin that can be developed and used pursuant to <br />respective State laws or that have been appropriated or reserved <br />by congress for Federal purposes have not been determined. <br />Constraint upon development and use pursuant to respective State <br />laws includes limitations imposed by seasonal and annual variations <br />in the rates of streamflows. Constraint upon development and use <br />for Federal purposes includes limitations imposed by the volume <br />of storable waters available for storage in Federal reservoirs. <br />When or if it becomes necessary, data exists from which reasonable <br />estimates of the waters available for development and use pursuant <br />to State laws and waters available for development and use for <br />Federal purposes may be made. Rates of flow and annual volumes <br />of water in the Missouri River have been calculated as of the 1949 <br />depletion (water used) level. For practical purposes, the 1949 <br />depletion level is the same as the depletion level in 1944. <br />Additional depletions annually since 1949 have been estimated. <br />This data and analysis provide bases by which comparisons of <br />"natural flows" of the Missouri River at any specified time can <br />be made with "natural flows" of the Missouri River during a <br />similar prior period and from which reasonable estimates of water <br />supplies available for development and use pursuant to State laws, <br />collectively, may be separated from water supplies available for <br />development and use for Federal purposes. Similar evaluations may <br />be made for Missouri River tributaries. However, this data and <br />analyses do not provide information to guide the amount of develop- <br />ment and use of the waters of the Missouri River Basin that is <br />appropriate under State law in each of the States of the Missouri <br />River Basin, except perhaps as interstate compacts may be pertinent <br /> <br />4. <br />