43 USC § 503 - “Unusual or emergency conditions” defined

---
identifier: "/us/usc/t43/s503"
source: "usc"
legal_status: "official_prima_facie"
title: "43 USC § 503 - “Unusual or emergency conditions” defined"
title_number: 43
title_name: "PUBLIC LANDS"
section_number: "503"
section_name: "“Unusual or emergency conditions” defined"
chapter_number: 12
chapter_name: "RECLAMATION AND IRRIGATION OF LANDS BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT"
subchapter_number: "XI"
subchapter_name: "MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION OF WORKS GENERALLY"
positive_law: false
currency: "119-84"
last_updated: "2026-04-17"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
source_credit: "(June 26, 1948, ch. 676, § 2, 62 Stat. 1052.)"
---


# § 503. “Unusual or emergency conditions” defined

section 502 of this title

The term “unusual or emergency conditions”, as used in , shall be construed to mean canal bank failures, generator failures, damage to transmission lines; or other physical failures or damage, or acts of God, or of the public enemy, fires, floods, drought, epidemics, strikes, or freight embargoes, or conditions, causing or threatening to cause interruption in water or power service.

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**Source Credit**: (June 26, 1948, ch. 676, § 2, 62 Stat. 1052.)