American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-07-20
PROBLEM OF WATER
rev Farms Provided by Nature
With Exact Amount Needed.
u Will Be Found There is Often Too
Much or Too LittIeOnIy Remedy
Is to Drain the Land-Gravity
System Most Favored.

There is hardly q farm anywhere
which is provided by nature with Just
q exact amount Of water for the
production of the most satisfactory
crop. There Is just as often too much
as there is too little water; moreover
at times Of the year when the precipi
tatlon is at its maximum the water
bench rises in the soif until 1t actually
browns out and destroys the vegeta.
ton 1t is supposed to feed; the only
way to cure this Is to drain the land
30 AS to draw the level of water down
to a point where it will do no damage.
This work Is done either by bitches
Or piping and care must be taken not
to draw the water off too much. Diff.
ferent crops require of course differ
ent amounts of water, but as a general
proposition the water should not be
drawn any lower so the roots Of plants
are able to reach it and draw it up
for their nourishment, says the Irriga-
ton Age. Such drainage water should
be made use OF again for land lying
at a lower elevation as 1t has many
rich salts in solution necessary for
liant food which 1t took up while
standing in the soil; thus the water
drained from one farm may be used
to irrigate and enrich another farm.
A gravity system Of drainage Is nat
urally preferable as its operation cost
Is practically nothing. There are how
ever, localities where there is no nat
ural drainage and in such case the sur
plus water must be pumped. In such
case the cost Of pumping must be con
sfdered, and If 1t can be worked so as
to store the water In a reservoir so
as to use it when the ground needs
irrigation the pumps are doing double
duty as their work in draining the
land is the first step toward irriga-
don as well.
1t may be truly said that the arts of
and drainage are just now
beginning to be developed, and that
the next decade will see a tremen-
dous advance In this direction.
The time will come when all the
and that a be irrigated by a gravity
,lan will have been taken up, and then
he reclamation of further land will
necessarily depend ON the ability of
water from the deep. This
will also include such lands as are
low watered by artesian wells which
water under a head at present,
but the time will come when the
pressure diminishes and that water
will also have to be pumped. The ques-
ion whether it will pay to ;rrigate
and by pumping the necessary water
will depend on a good many circum-
stances which should be carefully con-
iidered. As a general proposition the
government should be first consulted
egarding the geological formation.
and quality of ground water
upply in the region under ~considera-
ion, next the condition of the soil
hould be established, which is best
one by taking samples at different To-
alities and depths and have them an
,lyzed in the various experiment sta
ions. From this information an ap-
estimate of the cost of
can be made. But the propo-
ition is always one of more or less
uncertainty. as no one can definitely
tate whether a s~ubterranean water
upply is permanent, like an under
round river, or whether it is just a
For this reason the govern
nent should devote more work and
money to the establishment of n.y.
Information in the various
tates, especially in the arid and semi
rid regions.