The bill authorizes the projects but does not appropriate the money for them. Appropriation of funds will have to be taken care of in subsequent legislation.

The veto of the water bill was the fifth cast by Mr. Bush, and the first to be overridden by Congress. The president and some Republicans had complained that the bill was wasteful. Some critics said that the measure did not do enough to reform the Army Corps of Engineers, which would handle much of the work; that there is already a huge backlog of water-related projects waiting for money; and that the current bill was larded with political pork.

But, as the comments of lawmakers made clear today, pork is in the eye of the beholder.

The bill “is one of the few areas where we actually do something constructive,” Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Republican whip, told The Associated Press. He said the bill contains “good, deserved, justified projects.”

Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, also argued in favor of overriding the veto. “This bill is enormously important, and it has been a long time coming,” Mr. Vitter said.

Mr. Lott and Mr. Vitter side with President Bush far more often than they oppose him. But both senators represent areas that were hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, and their votes to override Mr. Bush’s veto underscored the adage that politics is basically local, or at least regional.