United States Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation (formerly the United States Reclamation Service ) ( literally translated: " Bureau of Reclamation " or " reclamation " ) is an agency under the umbrella of the American Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible for water management and water supply. In particular, it has the oversight of numerous water supply projects, water storage, water distribution facilities and hydroelectric projects in the western part of the USA, and builds and operates them partially. It is roughly equivalent to a water association in Germany. Seat of authority is in Washington, the budget of the Authority for 2009 was $ 1.124 billion

Foundation

In July 1902, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock established in accordance with the Reclamation Act of the United States Reclamation Service within the United States Geological Survey (USGS ). The new Reclamation Service studied potential water development projects in all western states of the USA, where there were public lands in federal ownership. Income from the sale of government-owned land was the initial source of funding of the program. Because in Texas no public land existed for historical reasons in the Federal possession, it was not until 1906 Member, after Congress had enacted a special law for that.

History

Between 1902 and 1907 the Reclamation Service began with about 30 projects. 1907 separated the Department of the Interior Reclamation Service from the USGS and created an independent authority under its roof. Frederick Haynes Newell became the first director of the new office.

In the early years there were many problems: soils were unsuitable for irrigated agriculture, because of speculation, there were few settlers, who settled, payment deadlines were not met, because the cost of land preparation and buildings were high, settlers were inexperienced with irrigated land, drainage was required, in part, could only inferior grains are grown. 1923, the facility was renamed in Bureau of Reclamation. 1924 report ( the Fact Finder 's Report ) was written, the sensed the uneasiness among the settlers and the financial problems and should solve.

In 1928, Congress passed the Boulder Canyon ( Hoover Dam ) Project, and now for the first time flowed large subsidies from the state budget in the Reclamation Project. The decision only came into being after a long debate on the pros and cons of public and private financing.

The heyday for the Bureau of Reclamation was during the Great Depression and in the 35 years after the Second World War. From 1941 to 1947, the " Civilian Public Service " projects continue, which were interrupted by the war. The final decisions for construction projects there were in the late 1960s, while the American environmental movement gained strength and opposition to hydraulic engineering projects arose. The failure of the Teton Dam in his first filling in 1976 did not reduce the international reputation of the Bureau of Reclamation. This first and only failure of a dam by the Bureau, it shook yet very, whereupon it strengthened its security program to prevent similar cases in the future. The breaking of the Teton Dam, the environmental movement and President Jimmy Carter's hit list as designated shift away from large-scale hydraulic engineering projects influenced the activities fundamentally.

The Bureau of Reclamation operates about 180 projects in the 17 western states of the United States. The total investment on buildings and equipment amounted in the financial year 2005 to 22.8 billion dollars. The Bureau of Reclamation supplies approximately one-third of the population of the American West with water for agriculture, households and industry. About 5 % of the land in the West is irrigated, and one-fifth of the area ( 42,500 km ²) was supplied in 2005. The Bureau of Reclamation is also a major energy supplier. In 2007 it had 58 power plants and produced more than 40 billion kilowatt-hours of energy.

Between 1988 and 1994, the Bureau of Reclamation was reorganized as the older projects from the 1960s came to an end. You wrote: " The arid west has been brought under cultivation. The larger rivers are tamed and enough facilities are or will be done to satisfy the urgent demand for water in the future. " The focus shifted to the operation and maintenance of existing facilities. The official re-defined tasks are management, development and protection of water resources in an environmentally and economically satisfactory manner in the interest of the American public. According to this realignment of its duties and responsibilities of the Bureau of Reclamation its staff and its budget has greatly reduced but remains an important institution in the American West.

List of Reclamation projects

  • Klamath Project
  • Huntley Project
  • Colorado - Big Thompson Project
  • Fryingpan - Arkansas Project
  • Animas -La Plata Project
  • Central Arizona Project Aqueduct
Ethan A. Hitchcock (Interior) Colorado-Big Thompson Project
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