The Department of Conservation and Development shall be empowered to sell, for industrial purposes, water from said canal, on just and reasonable terms and conditions and at just and reasonable prices, and shall be empowered to enter into long term contracts, but not exceeding twenty-five years for the sale of such water, for industrial purposes, whenever it deems the same will reasonably promote industrial development in any section or sections of the State through which said canal flows and will properly conserve the public interest.
N.J.S. § 13:13-12.4