Prohibition on Use of Appropriated Funds for Defense G, B-

B-277905 Mar 17, 1998 Jump To VIEW DECISION RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights Sec. 1531(c)(2) have the effect of overriding. We conclude that appropriated funds may not be used to install or maintain water pipelines on the Fort Sam Houston golf course. /1/ BACKGROUND The Edwards Aquifer is a unique underground system of water-bearing formations in central Texas. The aquifer is the primary source of water for residents of central Texas including Fort Sam Houston. Was created to oversee this regulatory scheme. The local water systems have adopted water recycling and conservation regulations in order to preserve the Edwards Aquifer. The Budget Office states that Fort Sam Houston will have to reduce the volume of water it pumps from the Edwards Aquifer for installation use. View Decision Matter of: Prohibition on Use of Appropriated Funds for Defense Golf Courses File: B-277905 Date: March 17, 1998 DIGEST DECISION The Budget Office of the United States Army Garrison, Fort Sam Houston, has requested our opinion regarding the availability of appropriated funds to install and maintain water pipelines to support the base golf course, notwithstanding the provisions of 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2246(a) which prohibits the use of appropriated funds to "equip, operate, or maintain" a golf course. The Budget Office asserts that two other statutes may overcome this prohibition. As explained below, we conclude that appropriated funds may not be used to install or maintain water pipelines on the Fort Sam Houston golf course. /1/ BACKGROUND The Edwards Aquifer is a unique underground system of water-bearing formations in central Texas. Water enters the aquifer through the ground as surface water and rainfall and leaves the aquifer through well withdrawals and springflows. The aquifer is the primary source of water for residents of central Texas including Fort Sam Houston. It supplies over one million people with water in San Antonio alone. In 1993 because of droughts and the anticipated increases in the withdrawal of water from the aquifer, the Texas Legislature enacted the Edwards Aquifer Act, creating a regulatory scheme to control and manage the use of the aquifer. Act of May 30, 1993, 73d Leg., Ch. 626, as amended by Act of May 29, 1995, 74th Leg., Ch. 261. An administrative body, the Edwards Aquifer Authority, was created to oversee this regulatory scheme. Passage of the Aquifer Act generated a number of lawsuits in both the state and federal courts. /2/ In 1996 the Texas Supreme Court unanimously upheld the facial constitutionality of the Act. Barshop v. Medina County Underground Water Conservation Dist., 925 S.W.2d 618 (Tex. 1996). As a result of the Act, the local water systems have adopted water recycling and conservation regulations in order to preserve the Edwards Aquifer. In accordance with these conservation regulations, the Budget Office states that Fort Sam Houston will have to reduce the volume of water it pumps from the Edwards Aquifer for installation use, which includes watering of the installation golf course. One of the water use reduction efforts implemented by the City of San Antonio is the use of "greywater"--recycled waste water which is partially purified--for irrigation in lieu of aquifer water. Fort Sam Houston and other military installations will be able to use greywater if each installation installs the necessary pipelines. The Budget Office acknowledges that appropriated funds may not be used to equip, operate, or maintain a golf course at a facility or installation of the Department of Defense. 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2246 (1994). However, it asserts that two other provisions of law might allow the use of appropriated funds to install a "greywater" pipeline on the golf course notwithstanding the prohibition in section 2246(a). The first proviso, 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2866, directs that the Secretary of Defense allow and encourage Department instrumentalities to participate in water conservation efforts. The second provision is a statement of Congressional policy which declares that federal agencies shall cooperate with State and local agencies to resolve water resource issues in concert with conservation of endangered species. 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531(c)(2). We conclude that neither of these provisions overrides the explicit statutory prohibition found in 10 U.S.C. Sec. 2246. ANALYSIS Title 10 of the U.S. Code section 2246 states: (a) Limitation.--Except as provided in subsection (b), funds appropriated to the Department of Defense may not be used to equip, operate, or maintain a golf course at a facility or installation of the Department of Defense. /3/ As a general rule, a statute that is clear and unambiguous on its face should be construed to mean what it says. B-204874, July 28, 1982; see also 2A, A. Sutherland, Statutes and Statutory Construction Sec. 46.01, at 81 (5th ed. 1992).