American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-06-22
WATER IS VALUABLE
Liquid In a Reservoir Is Like
Money In a Bank.
Should Be Used Only When and Where
Il VII % the Most Good and
Made Z Go a. Far ~ II
Possibly Can.

How many farmers are there In the
country who know what is meant by
tho 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
value OF water increase year after
year. and they know that water in q
reservoir ID 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 q certain head OF
water and with 1t cover Ave acres OF
his farm In a day. Another farmer
uses the same head and irrigates only
pa acres with II. The duty of the
water In the hands and on the and
Of farmer No. l Is double the duty in
the hands and on tho land OF farmer
No. 2.
II 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 OF
the field and In this way increase the
duty OF his 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 a
second foot Of water will take care OF.
and the other Is to speak Of the num-
Der OF acre feet Of water used per
acre.
We used to figure hat land In this
section needed n second foot OF wa
ter for every 40 acres. and In this ase
the duty OF water was 40 acres per
second foot. Later we raised this
duty to 60 acres per second foot; then
we made the duty 80 acres per second
foot. and for a long time 1t was the
custom to provide a second foot OF
water for each S0-acre tract. Now we
are figuring the duty Of water to be
100 or 1870 acres per second foot.
Can we do better than this? We
certainly can. for In southern Cali
fornia. where water is scarce and val
liable. they make a second foot Of wa
take care of 800 acres, and where
sub-irrigation. by means of under
ground pipes. is used. the duty in
some cases has reached 1000 acres
per second foot.
This method. however. of figuring
duty Is not the best by any means. for
II presupposes q continuous flow OF
one second foot throughout the irri-
season. The farmer when he
irrigates usually wants more han a
second-foot head. and he uses It for a
few days or weeks and then uses no
at all for a period. Hence. the
second way Of stating 1t. which is in
acre feet per acre. IL usually the best
way.
A second foot of water running for
"a hours delivers approximately two
acre feet. Ito be exact. 1t delivers
two acre feet in "a hours. IL minutes.)
Let us say the irrigating period Is 100
days, and one second-foot would de-
acre feet. II this were applied all at
once I o 100 acres. II would cover 1t to
a depth Of "a feet. and we would
say that the duty of water in this
case Ia "a acre feet per acre.
The duty Of water. then. In acre
per acre. Is the number OF acre
Feet Of water applied to each acre OF
land. during the entire season. 1t
the country over. from one acre
foot per acre. to 10 or IL acre feet per
acre.