P.R. Laws tit. 22, § 214
(a) With a view to the coordination and integration of irrigation and/or hydroelectric projects and their activities, at present existing or that may be developed in the future, all powers, duties, functions, obligations, and responsibilities which prior to the enactment of §§ 191—217 of this title were vested in, conferred or imposed upon the Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Service, the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works and the Executive Council of Puerto Rico, or any of them under the Public Irrigation Law approved September 18, 1908, §§ 251—259 of this title, and laws amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, heretofore or hereafter enacted by the Legislature of Puerto Rico, providing for the construction and operation of a public irrigation system, and under those provisions of Act No. 58, approved April 30, 1928, applicable to the Hydroelectric System of the Puerto Rico Irrigation Service, South Coast, are hereby transferred to and conferred and imposed upon the Authority. The Authority shall administer said laws in conformity with the provisions thereof and shall be governed by them in the operation, maintenance, repair, reconstruction, construction of extensions, improvements, and enlargement of the works or systems constructed and operated and maintained pursuant to those laws; and to the extent that the exercise of such power does not impair the obligations of any contract of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Authority shall have power, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in said Act No. 58, to fix the basis for allocating operating expenses to the several systems operated by the Authority.
(b) In carrying out its duties under the next preceding subsection, the Authority shall pay directly all costs and expenses incurred by it. The Authority shall be reimbursed for all such costs and expenses, including a fair share of the Authority’s own overhead and operating expenses attributable to the Puerto Rico Irrigation Service, South Coast, as determined pursuant to subsection (a) above, from the funds available in the Commonwealth Treasury for the operation and maintenance, repair, reconstruction, construction of extensions, improvements and enlargements of the works or systems, constructed and operated and maintained pursuant to §§ 251—259 of this title. There shall be advanced to the Authority, from time to time, from said Irrigation funds in the Treasury, amounts sufficient to provide a working fund adequate at all times to meet all of said costs and expenses promptly. Said funds shall be held and administered by the Authority in the same manner as its own funds but shall be used by it only for the payment of said costs and expenses.
(c) Upon authorization of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, the Authority, when it deems it advisable in the public interest, may take over and operate any irrigation and/or hydroelectric project existing and owned, or that may be developed or acquired in the future, by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
History —May 2, 1941, No. 83, p. 684, § 24; Apr. 8, 1942, No. 19, p. 330, § 1; May 15, 1943, No. 191, p. 684; June 10, 1959, No. 27, p. 86, § 1.