The Delta independent., 1911-03-17
DUTY of Water.


the country who know what is
meant by the term Duty of Water?
Not many. Yet they have been hv-
ing in an arid section and irrigat-
ing their field for years. They have
seen the value OF water increase
year after year. and they know
that water in a reservoir is like
money in a bank, and should be
used when and where it will do the
most good. and made to go as far
as possible.
One farmer uses a certain head
of water and with it covers five
acres OF his farm a day. Another
farmer uses the same head and irri-
gates only 2ia acres with it. The
duty of the water in the hands and
on the land of farmer No. l is
double the duty in the hands and
on the land of farmer No. ..
1t behooves every farmer, then,
to know what duty he is getting
out of his water, and, If he finds
that he is not up TO the standard,
may take necessary steps to i'm
prove tie position of his bitches
OF may. during the fall and early
winter. cut OFF the high spots and
FIJI in the low spots of the field
and in this way increase the duty
OF lis water two, three, and even
fourfold.
There are two general ways OF
speaking of the duty of water. One
is to state the number of acres
second foot of water will take care
of. and the other is to speak of
the number of acre feet of water
used per acre.
We used to figure that land in
this section needed l second foot
Of water for every 40 acres, and in
this case the duty of water was
40 acres per second foot. Later we
raised this duty to 60 acres per
secnod foot; then We made the duty
so acres per second foot, and for
a .ong time it was the custom TO
provide second foot of water for
each SO-acre tract Now we are tig-
uring the duty of water to be 100
or 120 acres per second foot.
Can we do better than this? We
Certainly can, for in southern Cali
fornia, where water is scarce and
valuable, they make second foot
of water take care of 500 acres. and
where subirrigation. by means OF
underground pipes. is used, the duty
in some cases has reached 1000
acres per second foot.
This method. however, of hsur-
ing duty is not the best by any
means, for 1t presupposes a contln-
uous flow of l second foot through
out the irrigating season. The farm
er when he irrigates usually wants
more than second-foot head, ana
he uses il for few days or weeks
and then uses no water at all ior
period. Hence, the second way OF
stating II. which is in acre feet per
acre, is usually the best way.
A second foot of water running
for "a hours delivers approximately
2 acre feet. (To be exact it delivers
. acre feet in "a hours. . minutos.l
Let us say the irrigating period
Is l2O days, and one second-toot
would deliver in that time approNi-
mately 240 acre feet. If this were
applied all at once to 100 acres, ii
would cover it to depth of -
feet, and We would say that the
duty of water in this case, is "A
acre feet per acre.
The duty of water, then in acre
feet per acre, is the number OF acre
feet of water applied to each acre
of land, during the entire season.
1t varies the county over, from
acre foot per acre, to 10 or Il acre
feet per acre.
Why not make an experiment,
then, Mr.. Farmer. and see what duty
you are getting from your waterg
1t will pay you.
f. r. HOUSE.
Colorado Agricultural College, Fort