Page 18

Zeutschel OS7000, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 7,942,816 bytesanticipates a shortage taking into account both the prospective runoff originating above Navajo Reservoir and the available water in storage in Navajo Reservoir, for a sharing of the available water in the following manner: The prospective runoff shall be apportioned between the contractors diverting above and those diverting at or below Navajo Reservoir in the proportion that the total normal diversion requirement of each group bears to the total of all normal diversion requirements. In the case of contractors diverting above Navajo Reservoir, each such contract shall provide for a sharing of the runoff apportioned to said group in the same proportion as the normal diversion requirement under said contract bears to the total normal diversion requirements of all such contracts that have been made hereunder: Provided, That for any year in which the foregoing sharing procedure either would apportion to any contractor diverting above Navajo Reservoir an amount in excess of the runoff anticipated to be physically available at the point of his diversion, or would result in no water being available to one or more such contractors, the runoff apportioned to said group shall be reapportioned as near as may be among the contractors diverting above Navajo Reservoir in the proportion that the normal diversion requirements of each bears to the total normal diversion requirements of the group. In the case of contractors diverting from or below Navajo Reservoir, each such contract shall provide for a sharing of the remaining runoff together with the available storage in the same proportion as the normal diversion requirement under said contract bears to the total normal diversion requirements under all such contracts that have been made hereunder. The Secretary shall not enter into contracts beyond a total amount of water that, in his judgment, in the event of shortage will result in a reasonable amount being available for the diversion requirements for the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as specified in sections 2 and 6 of this Act.'' It is our understanding that it is not intended that the water-sharing principle be applicable in the case of the existing Fruitland, Hogback, Cudai, and Cambridge Indian irrigation projects, nor to extensions of their irrigated acreage totaling approximately 11,000 acres. The total acreage involved, including that now irrigated, is approximately 26,000 acres. This intent could be reflected by the addition to section 7 of a new subsection (c) reading substantially as follows: ''(c) This section shall not be applicable to the water requirements of the existing Fruitland, Hogback, Cudai, and Cambridge Indian irrigation projects, nor to the water required in connection with the extension of the irrigated acreages of the Fruitland and Hogback Indian irrigation projects in a total amount of approximately 11,000 acres.''-Section 3 of the bill relates to the inclusion within the Navajo Indian irrigation project of lands which are not now Indian lands, which lands would be held by the United States in trust for the Indians. It has been the general policy of the Department to require Indian tribes acquiring lands, particularly lands outside the reservation boundaries, to take those lands in fee. The principal reasons for this policy are to prevent disrupting the tax base in local communities and to give the Indian groups an opportunity to manage limited acreages of land free of any control or limitations by the Federal Government. In this case, however, it appears that officials of the State of Ne