43 U.S.C. § 423a — Construction charges on permanently unproductive lands already paid; disposition

This section deals with money already paid before May 25, 1926, for irrigation construction on land that later got dropped from a reclamation project because it turned out to be permanently unproductive. If you paid construction charges on that excluded land, the money doesn't disappear. It gets applied as a credit against charges you still owe — or will owe — on your remaining irrigable land under the same water-right contract, or on land you got through an exchange under section 423c. If what you already paid is more than all your unpaid water-right charges plus the construction charges not yet due, the extra amount is paid back to you in cash — or to your irrigation district if the district holds the contract. The district must then work out a fair adjustment with the affected landowners. If every acre of your land under a water-right application gets excluded as permanently unproductive, and you don't get an exchange under section 423c, the rule is different: all of your construction charges paid before May 25, 1926 are refunded in cash (minus any unpaid operation and maintenance charges), your water-right contract is canceled, and any liens tied to those water-right charges are released.