# 43 U.S.C. § 617: Colorado River Basin; protection and development; dam, reservoir, and incidental works; water, water power, and electrical energy; eminent domain

> Federal · Statutes · In force

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617

## Section

- **Citation:** 43 U.S.C. § 617
- **Heading:** Colorado River Basin; protection and development; dam, reservoir, and incidental works; water, water power, and electrical energy; eminent domain
- **Jurisdiction:** Federal
- **Kind:** Statutes
- **Status:** In force
- **Text as of:** April 17, 2026
- **Source:** Publisher's official text
- **Location:** Title 43—PUBLIC LANDS > CHAPTER 12A—BOULDER CANYON PROJECT > SUBCHAPTER I—BOULDER CANYON PROJECT ACT

## Text

For the purpose of controlling the floods, improving navigation, and regulating the flow of the Colorado River, providing for storage and for the delivery of the stored waters thereof for reclamation of public lands and other beneficial uses exclusively within the United States, and for the generation of electrical energy as a means of making the project herein authorized a self-supporting and financially solvent undertaking, the Secretary of the Interior subject to the terms of the Colorado River compact hereinafter mentioned in this chapter, is authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a dam and incidental works in the main stream of the Colorado River at Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon adequate to create a storage reservoir of a capacity of not less than twenty million acre-feet of water and a main canal and appurtenant structures located entirely within the United States connecting the Laguna Dam, or other suitable diversion dam, which the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to construct if deemed necessary or advisable by him upon engineering or economic considerations, with the Imperial and Coachella Valleys in California, the expenditures for said main canal and appurtenant structures to be reimbursable, as provided in the reclamation law, and shall not be paid out of revenues derived from the sale or disposal of water power or electric energy at the dam authorized to be constructed at said Black Canyon or Boulder Canyon, or for water for potable purposes outside of the Imperial and Coachella Valleys: Provided, however , That no charge shall be made for water for the use, storage, or delivery of water for irrigation or water for potable purposes in the Imperial or Coachella Valleys; also to construct and equip, operate, and maintain at or near said dam, or cause to be constructed, a complete plant and incidental structures suitable for the fullest economic development of electrical energy from the water discharged from said reservoir; and to acquire by proceedings in eminent domain, or otherwise, all lands, rights-of-way, and other property necessary for said purposes.

( Dec. 21, 1928, ch. 42, § 1 , 45 Stat. 1057 .)

## Nearby sections

- [43 U.S.C. § 617 Colorado River Basin; protection and development; dam, reservoir, and incidental works; water, water power, and electrical energy; eminent domain](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617a “Colorado River Dam Fund”](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617a.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617b Authorization of appropriations](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617b.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617c Condition precedent to taking effect of provisions](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617c.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617d Contracts for storage and use of waters for irrigation and domestic purposes; generation and sale of electrical energy](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617d.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617e Uses to be made of dam and reservoir; title in whom; leases, regulations; limitation on authority](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617e.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617f Canals and appurtenant structures; transfer of title; power development](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617f.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617g Colorado River compact as controlling authority in construction and maintenance of dam, reservoir, canals, and other works](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617g.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617h Lands capable of irrigation and reclamation by irrigation works; public entry; preferences](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617h.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617i Modification of existing compact relating to Laguna Dam](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617i.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617j Omitted](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617j.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617k Definitions](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617k.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617l Colorado River compact approval](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617l.md)
- [43 U.S.C. § 617m Reclamation law applicable](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617m.md)

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/usc_t43_s617. Check the current official text before relying on it. Not legal advice.