Arizona republican., 1908-05-10
MISUNDERSTANDING
 OF WAiFR SITUATION
Some People Have an Erroneous Idea and May Be Unintentionally Mis- leadiar Others.

1 IL is learned from various sources ] that quite number of the enthusias- tic citizens of the valley. in their ef- forts to impress visitors and residents who are not familiar with local water conditions are making a statement concerning the Roosevelt storage res eryOir that is to say the least. mislead- ing. It is believed though that the statement is made innocently and un- advisedly for surely the prosperity of the valley is so much in evidence it is unnecessar to wilfully exaggerate any fact. For that reason reference to the matter is made here that some who have unintentionaIly erred may not continue to co so.
 The statement is that the valley will begin to derive storage benefits from the dams now under construc- tion. next fall" The statement is em- inently correct if properly explained. but where this explanation is not gHren it leads to the inference that the gov erEmcnt will next fall begin the furn- ishing of stored water to lands that up to that time have not been able FtO secure it. That inference is just as certainly incorrect and not justified by
 
 the facts.
 The benefits that will begin to be realized next fall will simply be the better regulation of flood waterss chiefly through the growing heights of tiS Roosevelt dam and what might be called the storage of confidence rath- CT than water" by the Granite Reef dam In respect of the Granite Reef l -l,s l..
 mer the great satisfaction will be in knowing that when there is water in the river it can be diverted to the land. In the years gone by. everytime there was an inch of rain or a flood on the water shed. there was an ingrowing fear that the Arizona dam and all the smaller dams were washed away and the water must continue to pass on to the sea performing no service for this valley and then after the water was all gone the dams could be re- built. But the Granite Reef dam is there to stay. When the floods come down the canals will be filled and kept full just as long as the water lasts and that means that there will probably be ample water for all the land now under cultivation and dur ing flood seasons more than can be used to advantage. So certain is this that some are preparing to buy flood waters who are not in a position to se- cure regular water the year round or who only need it for short crops. Of | ter in years gone by there has been | lots of water pass the valley unused ! because the dams were out, but that l will not be the case now unless there | is more water than anybody wants.
 As for Roosevelt dam. its only func- | tion of benefit for sometime to come | at least until after next winter will ! be the regulation" of ordinary floods ! The dam is now @ feet above datum 1 at the high point, but at the other end ! the water is running over it and will | continue to do so until the gates are set in the sluicing tunnel some weeks | hence. Then it will be diverted through | that channel and the lower end of the | dam will be brought up toward the rest of it. Then on the occasion of a | small flood. one a little too large to | pass through the tunnel, the water will | back up" a little above the dam. But | this cannot make a lake of large area | unlil the udm Is ConSlQefaDlN higher. 1 Suppose it backs up a mile it would | not then be in sufficient quantity to irrigate very much land for it would | be comparatively narrow lake, sev- eral feet deep at one end and only q . dead pond in the rear
 But assuming this basin to be emp ty when an ordinary flood arrives it i would first fill that up. meantime run ming down stream to the full capacity | of the sluicing tunnel, filling up the canals and wetting all the lands. the reserve being held back a day or so in it's career. In other words flood that in the former days lasted a day. might | under these conditions be stretched out over two or three days. But all this would be only for the regulation of water and the improvement of the ser vice to such lands as are already quite i well ssured of an ample quantity in an ordinary season. It would be a evry modified form of temporary stor- age for just a day or so and for the benefit only of the lands now watered