§ 171.17 - Delivery of water.

(a) Irrigation water will not be delivered until the annual operation and maintenance assessments are paid in accordance with the established annual rate schedule as set forth in the public notice issued by the Area Director. Under the following special circumstances, this rule may be waived and water delivered to:

(1) Trust and restricted lands farmed by the Indian owner when the Superintendent has certified that the operator is financially unable to pay the assessment and he has made arrangements to pay such assessments from the proceeds received from the sale of crops or from any other source of income. In such cases the unpaid charges will stand as a first lien against the land until paid but without penalty on account of delinquency.

(2) Non-Indian lands on which there is an approved deferred payment contract executed under the provisions of the Act of June 22, 1936 (49 Stat, 1803).

(3) Land on which an adjustment or cancellation of unpaid assessments has been recommended and final action is pending.

(b) Water will not be delivered to Indian trust or restricted land that are under lease approved by the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative acting under delegated authority until the lessee has paid the annual assessed operation and maintenance charges.

(c) No water will be delivered to Indian trust land under a lease that has been negotiated by an Indian owner until the owner has paid the annual assessed operation and maintenance charges or has made satisfactory arrangements for their payment with the Superintendent who has so notified the Officer-in-Charge.

(d) Water will not be delivered to any lands within an irrigation district which has executed a repayment contract with the United States until all irrigation charges, as assessed, are paid in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contracts and the public notice as issued by the Area Director.

(e) All irrigation districts may make such rules and regulations as they may find necessary in regard to the delivery of the water to water users within the district who are delinquent in their payments to the district of assessed irrigation charges. Such rules and regulations will be adhered to by the Officer-in-Charge when it appears to be in the best interests of the United States and the district to do so.

(f) Water will not be delivered to lands that are subject to construction assessments not paid in accordance with part 134 of this chapter.

(g) Flathead Indian Irrigation Proj-ect, Montana—(1) Secretarial Water Right holders. (i) For all acres recognized by the Secretary of the Interior as entitled to a “Secretarial Water Right”, the Officer-in-Charge is authorized to carry such water in the project's carriage and distribution system and deliver it: Providing, That landowner holding such a right requests it and his land is so located that the water can be delivered without undue expense to the project. Before this service is provided, the landowner must also agree to pay a minimum of fifty (50) percent of up to a maximum of one hundred (100) percent of the annual operation and maintenance charges as assessed against project lands in the same general area as his. Under such agreement the project will not be obligated to deliver more than that allowed for each acre of land under the Secretary's private water right findings less a proportionate share of the project's normal losses in transporting the water from the point of entry into the project's system to the point of delivery.

(ii) “Secretarial Water rights” are defined as those rights allocated to Indian allotments by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior by his approval on November 25, 1921, of the findings of the Commission appointed by him to investigage the “private rights” on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Authority: Sec. 9, Act of May 29, 1908 (35 Stat. 449).

(2) Pump lands—Flathead Irrigation Project. (i) The Officer-in-Charge is authorized to deliver irrigation water to lands (pump lands) within a project farm unit that are too high to be served from the project's gravity flow system: Providing, The holder of legal title to the lands so requests it in writing and agrees to have such land designated by the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative as a part of the irrigation project. Land so designated shall be subject to the assessment and payment of the pro rata per acre share of the project's construction, operation and maintenance costs the same as all other lands within the irrigation project in the same general area. In addition, such “pump lands” shall be obligated to pay an additional assessment on an annual basis as determined by the Officer-inCharge to defray the cost of pumping the water from the Flathead River for those lands in the Mission Valley Division, and from the Little Bitterroot Lake for lands in the Camas Division.

(ii) At the time he submits the request, the landowner must also agree in writing to include the “pump lands” in an existing irrigation district or a district that may be subsequently formed pursuant to the laws of the State of Montana. This will not apply to Indian trust or restricted lands as such lands cannot be included within an irrigation district.

(iii) A request for the inclusion of “pump lands” into the project will not be considered until the Officer-in-Charge determines that there is sufficient project water available to serve these lands without adversely affecting in any way the water entitlement of the designated project lands for which the project was designed and constructed.

(iv) All costs incidental to the pumping and distribution of the delivered water from the project farm unit delivery point to the “pump lands” shall be borne by the landowner.