The Raymer enterprise., 1911-06-15
WATER is VALUABLE l
Liquid in a Reservoir Is Like
Money in a Bank.
Should BE Used Only When and Where
II viii Do the Most Good and
Made to Go as Far as II
Possibly Can.

How many farmers are there in the
country who know what is meant by
the term DUTY Of Water?" Not
many. Yet they have been living IN
an arid section and irrigating their
fields for years. They have seen the
valne Of water Increase year after
year. and they know that water in q
reservoir is like money In bank, and
should be used when and where It will
do the most good, and made togo as
far as possible.
One farmer uses q certain head OF
water and with 1t covers five acres OF
his farm In a day. Another farmer
uses the same head and irrigates only
az. acres with 1t. The duty Of the
water In the hands and on the land
Of farmer No. / is double the duty IN
the hands and on the land Of farmer
No. 2.
1t behooves every farmer. then to
know what duty he is getting out OF
his water. and. II he finds that he is
not up to the standard, he may take
the necessary steps to improve the
position of his bitches or may, during
the fall and early winter. cut of the
high spots and fll In the low spots oi
the field and in this way increase the
duty of his water two. three, and even
fourfold.
There are two general ways oi
speaking Of the duty Of water. One
is to state the number Of acres 9
second foot Of water will take care OF
and the other is to speak Of the mum
ber Of acre feet Of water used pei
acre.
We used to figure that land in thii
section needed one second foot Of wa
ter for every 40 acres, and In this cast
the duty Of water was 40 acres pei
second foot. Later we raised thii
duty to go acres per second foot; thel
we made the duty so acres per secont
foot. and for a long time 1t was th'
custom to provide a second foot o
water for each S0-acre tract. Now w
are figuring the duty Of water to b
100 or 12O acres per second foot.
Can We do better than this? W.
certainly can, for In southern Call
fornia, where water is scarce and val
liable, they make second foot Of wa
ter take care Of 900 acres, and wher'
sub-irrigation, by means Of under
ground pipes. is used. the duty II
some cases has reached 1000 acre
per second foot
This method, however. of figurin
duty is not the best by any means. TO
1t presupposes continuous flow @
one second foot throughout the irr
CATION season. The farmer when b
irrlgates usually wants more than
second-foot head. and he uses It for
few days or weeks and then uses n
water at all for a period. Hence. tn
second way Of stating 1t, which is ii
acre feet per acre, is usually the bes
way.
A second foot OF water running 70
"a hours delivers approximately tw'
acre feet. ITO be exact, 1t deliver
two acre feet In "a hours. IL minutes.
Let US say the irrigating period Is II
days. and one secondfoot would de
liver In that time approximately "a
acre feet. II this were applied all a
once to 100 acres, 1t would cover 1t Il
4 depth Of "a feet. and we woul'
say that the duty Of water In thi
case is "a acre feet per acre.
The duty Of water. then, In acr'
feet per acre, Is the number Of acr
feet Of water applied to each acre o
land, during the entire season.
varies the country over, from one acr
foot per acre. to 10 or IL acre feet pc
acre.