In pursuance of the act of February 14, 1920 (41 Stat. 409; 25 U.S.C. 386), regulations governing partial payment of construction charges on Indian irrigation projects, with the exception of certain ones mentioned therein, where approved by the Department June 21, 1920, and require that each owner of irrigable land under any irrigation system constructed for the benefit of Indians under provisions of law requiring reimbursement of the cost of such system and to which land, water for irrigation purposes can be delivered from such system, shall pay, on or before November 15, 1920, a sum equal to 5 percent of the per acre cost, as of June 30, 1920, of the construction of the system under which such land is situated. The per acre cost of a given system as of June 30, 1920, shall be determined by dividing the total amount expended for construction purposes on such system up to that day by the total area of land to which water for irrigation purposes can be delivered on that date; and on November 15 of each year following the year 1920, until further notice, the land owners, as therein prescribed, shall pay 5 percent of the per acre construction cost as of June 30, of the current year, such per acre cost to be determined by dividing the cost of the system to June 30 of that year by the total area of land to which water for irrigation purposes can be delivered from the system on that date. Provision is contained that no payments shall be required under the regulations in behalf of lands still in process of allotment or prior to the issuance of the first or trust patent therefor, nor for lands reserved for school, agency, or other administrative purposes where the legal title still remains in the United States.

Considerable difficulty has been encountered in collecting charges under the regulations in this part owing to the fact that Indians have been financially unable to pay the charges, the result being that the construction charges have accrued against the lands and in cases where the land is sold for the benefit of the allottee or his heirs under the regulations, the purchaser is to pay the accrued and future irrigation charges which make it difficult in some instances, to sell the land at as favorable terms as might otherwise be secured.

Furthermore, in recent legislation dealing with specific projects in the Bureau and also all reclamation projects the policy has been to extend the payment of such charges over a longer period of years.

In view of these conditions the regulations governing this matter are hereby modified so as to distribute the unaccrued installments over a period of time so that 2 1/2 percent of the total amount yet due shall be due and payable on November 15 of each year until further notice. You shall accordingly ascertain the per acre cost after deducting the amount of the accrued charges and take 2 1/2 percent of that amount and a like sum each year so that the amount of the annual installments will be the same each year. Superintendents are obligated to submit all proposed lists of sales involving allotments containing irrigable allotments to the project or supervising engineer for checking, as to the irrigable acreage and amounts of unpaid construction, operation, and maintenance charges against such allotments. Each sale forwarded to the Bureau for action shall be accompanied by contract executed on Form 5-462b where irrigable acreage is involved and after approval thereof a copy of contract on said form shall be sent to the project engineer for his records and the charges paid by the purchaser shall be turned over to the disbursing agent for credit and deposit as instructed in the next paragraph. The regulations in this part shall not apply to lands in the Wapato project, on the Yakima Indian Reservation, nor to the irrigation projects on the Blackfeet, Fort Peck, Flathead, and Crow Reservations, Montana, for which special regulations have been issued nor to the Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho, or the San Carlos project, Arizona. 1

(a) Upon the completion of the construction of an Indian irrigation project, or unit thereof, subsequent to the determination of the partial per acre construction assessment rate which was fixed prior to July 1, 1957, pursuant to § 134.4 the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative shall determine such additional construction cost and distribute that cost on a per acre basis against all of the irrigable lands of the project, or unit thereof, and 1/40th of such per acre additional construction cost thus determined shall be assessed and collected annually from the non-Indian landowner of the project, or unit, thereof. The first installment shall be due and payable on November 15 of the year following the completion of such additional construction work or, if such additional construction work on the project, or unit thereof, has been completed prior to July 1, 1957, and the per acre annual rate determined, the first installment of the additional construction cost to be repaid by such non-Indian landowners shall be due and payable on November 15, 1958. This annual per acre rate shall be in addition to, and run concurrently with, the per acre construction rate assessed annually under § 134.4.

(b) Project lands in Indian ownership are not subject to assessment for their proportionate share of the per acre construction cost of the project, or unit thereof, until after the Indian title to the land has been extinguished. At that time the total annual per acre assessment rate against non-Indian lands of the project, or unit thereof, shall be assessed against the former Indian lands for each and every acre of irrigable land to which water can be delivered through the project works, beginning on November 15 of the year following the extinguishment of the Indian title to the land and on November 15 of each year thereafter over a forty year period. In cases where the Indian title to project land was extinguished prior to July 1, 1957, the assessment rate shall be due and payable on November 15, 1958.

Payments under this part shall be made to the disbursing officer for the supervising engineer of the Indian Irrigation Service having jurisdiction over the irrigation system under which the land for which payment is made may lie. The sum so collected will then, after proper credit has been made to the land for which collected, be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the respective funds used in constructing irrigation systems toward which reimbursement shall have been made.

The word “owner” as used in this part shall be construed to include any person, Indian or white, or any firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other organization to whom title to the land capable of irrigation, as provided in the act of February 14, 1920 (41 Stat. 409; 25 U.S.C. 386), has passed, either by fee or trust patent, or otherwise.

The act of July 1, 1932 (47 Stat. 564; 25 U.S.C. 386a), cancelled all irrigation assessments for construction costs against lands in Indian ownership which were unpaid at that date and deferred all future assessments for construction costs until the Indian title to the land shall have been extinguished.