Arizona republican., 1912-03-30
DEFENDS
 U.S.R. SERVICE
Chief Engineer Appears Be fore Board of Governors and Answers Criticisms; Finds Little to Condemn; Much to Praise

1 Chief Engineer Arthur r. Davis of
 the Reclamation service. held a spe-
 cial session with the board of gov ernors of the Water Users associa- | ton yesterday morning at which he reviewed the results of his two weeks | investigation of the affairs of the Salt 1 River project and the listening to com i plaints and he wanted to be told i whatever any one had to say to him as whatever the source, the complaint would be looked into
 Then he took up the various classes of complaints. mentioning first those regarding water delivery. He said the majority of of water users in the val ley had expressed either satisfaction or the greatest admiration for the
 system now in vogue However. he said, there was considerable minor ity who complain of unsatisfactory service and when sifted down. these were all substantially against the TO-
 tation system. These people. he said. wanted water when they want it. as they want it and in such quantity as they need.
 MT. Davis said: The proper eco nom!cal and satisfactory method is to have the water on order. to be chang ed as necessary. as with every run He said the continuous flow system which would be necessary if every body should be allowed to have the water whenever and as long as they wanted il. would entaIl waste as II 
 seepase from lateral dtches wet all the time than when they are alter nately wet and dry. That argument in itself is sufficient he said. if u was not backed up by the facts of waste of time and added expense of maintenance and operation. The sys- tenn now in practice in this valley he declared to be the best in any pro ject, and he added the rotation sys- tenn would be by him backed up to the limit" SD long as he has anything to say about the subject.
 ExtraVaEancc and wastcful meth ods. was the next subject treated Ho said he had tried to get at the bot tom of such charges as have been made and illustrated them by one in N Reclamation service employed a man to kill gophers While lac looked upon
 ii as a helpful occupation. Mir. Davis said there was no one especially vm- ployed for that purpose. but men wer" employed to watch the ditch banks and try To avoid damage which might be occasioned by these pests. Then he cited instances on other projects where serious and expensive damage had been avoided by looking after the small beginnings of breaks and leaks made by such pests He said the killing of gophers is an important part of the work of the ditch riders. as the pests ought to be eXterminated and in this work he urged the CO., operation of the farmers.
 one complaint. said MT Davis. was that a check in the Grand canal had been built. then blown out and an other built half mile away from the first site. Upon investigation. this was sfted down to the facts that a check was built afterward roughened on top so that another six inches in height could be added. it being neces sary as is well known to remove the old concrete surface before adding new. But it was not moved a half mile or any other distance, neither is there d check a half mile away to this day. So there was no basis of truth in that report.
 As for the charge that men are to be seen loafing on tha job, MT. Davis urged that where such thing is ggsa the foreman or next higher official so that the man may be fired and his pay stopped Don't" he said, treas ure these things up in your mind and tell me a year afterward, or send word to the secretary about it but help us by reporting it at once. If such things are going on we want to know about them when they occur and can be remedied'
 r Another complaint was that water was now being delivered to land from the Arizona canal. while it had for merly been received from the Grand canal. Mir Davis said he could not see what difference it made where the water came from So long as II was in sufficient quantity and there vas no attempt to interfere with the water right which belonged to the land and not to the ditch which took the water to it. Another charge was that canals had been built and aban- dOned and this was finally traced and found to be in reference to three feeder laterals to the new Western canal, which were started, partially completed and then work suspended until more money is available. but not abandoned He explained the ne cessity and economy of building three small lsterals instead of one large canal, when the smaller ones were used as distributing laterals well as feeders and were separated in the pumping district so as to the better distribute pumped water.
 As 10 the plan for the farmers to contract to clean ditches. MT. Davis | said such a plan is under consider 1