43 U.S.C. § 36b : US Code - Section 36B: Acquisition of lands or interests therein for use in gaging streams or underground water resources

Search 43 U.S.C. § 36b : US Code - Section 36B: Acquisition of lands or interests therein for use in gaging streams or underground water resources

The Secretary of the Interior may, on behalf of the United States
and for use by the United States Geological Survey in gaging
streams and underground water resources, acquire lands by donation
or when funds have been appropriated by Congress by purchase or
condemnation, but not in excess of ten acres for any one stream
gaging station or observation well site. For the same purpose the
Secretary of the Interior may obtain easements, licenses, rights-of-
way, and leases limited to run for such a period of time or term
of years as may be required for the effective performance of the
function of gaging streams and underground water resources:
Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed as
affecting or intended to affect or in any way to interfere with the
laws of any State or Territory relating to the control,
appropriation, use, or distribution of water used in irrigation, or
any vested right acquired thereunder, and the Secretary of the
Interior, in carrying out the provisions of this section, shall
proceed in conformity with such laws, and nothing in this section
shall in any way affect any right of any State or of the Federal
Government or of any landowner, appropriator, or user of water, in,
to, or from any interstate stream or the waters thereof.