43 U.S.C. § 465 — Charges for water service prior to notice of construction charge

This section is a single, undivided provision. It applies when water is available but it is impractical to divide up operation-and-maintenance charges the normal way (as described in section 492). In that situation, the Secretary of the Interior may supply water to a settler ("entryman") or private landowner on a reclamation project even before the government issues its official public notice of the per-acre construction charge for that land. The Secretary must charge a reasonable fee for this early water. Once charged, that fee is treated the same as other operation-and-maintenance charges — meaning it is subject to the same penalties for nonpayment, and the same rules for canceling the charge or collecting it.