Senate OKs Water Projects Bill

WASHINGTON — The Senate approved by a voice vote today the nation’s first major water projects bill in a decade, a $12-billion package that would make historic changes in how dams, canals and harbors are financed.

The bipartisan measure backed by President Reagan contains cost-sharing reforms under which the federal government would pay about three-fourths of the cost of more than 180 new projects. The bill now goes to a conference committee where lawmakers will try to resolve differences between it and a $20-billion House-passed water bill.