The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 () is a United States statute. It has been amended several times. Under this Act, the

Soil Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and ...

at the Department of Agriculture provides planning assistance and construction funding for projects constructed by local sponsors, often in the form of

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

districts. Restrictions on projects include: the size of the watershed must be 250,000 acres (1011 km²) or less; no single structure may provide more than of flood water retention; no single

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

may provide more than of total capacity; and projects with costs greater than $5 million or with structures with total capacities greater than must be approved by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. The original 1954 statute sought cooperation between the federal government and states and localities to prevent

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

damage. The Secretary of Agriculture was authorized to construct flood protection measures below a certain volume limit. Such initiatives were to be cost-shared and localities were required to contribute rights-of-way. The law also required that the Secretary of the Interior be consulted regarding plans which affect reclamation,

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

public land In all modern states, a portion of land is held by central or local governments. This is called public land, state land, or Crown land (Australia, and Canada). The system of tenure of public land, and the terminology used, varies between countrie ...

s under the Secretary of the Interior. Related views were to be submitted with project plans to the Congress. Amendments enacted in 1956 imposed volume limits on projects authorized to be undertaken by the Secretary of Agriculture without Congressional approval. Projects for which the federal contribution was estimated to exceed $250,000 or which exceeded were to be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior for review if they involved reclamation or irrigation lands, or public lands or wildlife under the Secretary's jurisdiction. The views of the Department of the Interior were required to accompany the report to Congress and regulations to coordinate activities of the Department of Agriculture and Interior were mandated. In addition, loans to localities were authorized and the provisions of the Act were extended to apply to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, and the Virgin Islands. Amendments to the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act in 1958 () also amended this statute to require the Secretary of Agriculture to notify the Secretary of the Interior regarding projects in order that the Secretary of the Interior could prepare a

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

and wildlife report to be incorporated in project plans. "Full consideration" was to be given to such reports by the Secretary of Agriculture; however, the Secretary of Agriculture retained the discretion to adopt fish and wildlife recommendations which are "technically and economically feasible." Costs for related surveys and reports are to be borne by the Secretary of the Interior. Amendments adopted later that year () added fish and wildlife development as an aspect of flood control projects to be constructed.

References

Description of Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act
at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service website

External links

The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act page
from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the USDA {{DEFAULTSORT:Watershed Protection And Flood Prevention Act Of 1954 1954 in the environment United States federal environmental legislation United States federal legislation articles without infoboxes Watersheds of the United States