Arizona republican., 1912-04-26
W HAT |S A
 WATER RIGHT?
Edward F. Bohm, in Article for Irrigation Age"
 Discusses Question
EXPERT PRAISES
 ROOSEVELT SYSTEM

dTlSSn DelOIe tIt investigating com | mittee relative to rights to water" | an article on that subject from the | pen of an expert should prove of | more than ordinary interest. especial | ly' to the valley farmers who are just | now deeply concerned with similar | matters
 The following is an article by | Edward F. Bohm, associate editor 1 of the Irrigation Age and author | of the Carey Act Manual" and other 1 papers on irrigation and reclamation | MT. Bohm, who is an expert counsel in public land and irrigation prac- tice and d member of the executive committee of the National Irrigation Congress- has been in the valley for some time writing up local condi- tions for the Arizona" issue of the Irrigation Age" The extract deals with Water Rights" the author being much inn pressed with the able manner ill which that question is handled ill the lands under the Roosevelt dam
 What is a Water Right?"
 Since irrigation became a factor Of importance to the human race, the question of what constitutes i q water right has received con 1 sideration and Various interpretations l have been placed upon it. In Amer l ica, the question, at first purely
 academic. With increased pressure upon existing normal flow of streams became of burning Importance. Courts and laymen have supplied the answet
 ill varying ways in the past, but with
 a few notable exceptions the pre- vailing conception of water right" is
 that incorporated in the federal rec lamation act, in the immigration
 codes of d number of the states and
 as aptly defined by the statutes of | Wyoming (scssion laws 1o9, ch 6S
 art. D.
 l "A water right is the right to use l the water of the state. when such
 use has been acquired by the beuc- 1 ficial application of water under the laws of the state relating thereto, etc. i Beneficial use shall be the basis of
 the measure and limit of the right
 to use water at all times, not eX- ceeding in any case the statutory limit Water rights cannot be de
 taclcd from the lands. place or pur-
 pose for which aoquircd5 without loss of purity"
 AS We have to deal in this instance with the function of q federal project
 it is important that a true conception of the character of the water right i e., right to the use of water, be had. Section s of the reclamation
 act provides inter ali. That the right to the use of water required when the provisions of this act shall be appurtenant to the land irrigated and beneficial use shall be the basis.
 the measure, and the limit Of the r;qht.
 Let us make Clear just what this means. in practical way. The sig nificance of it is that each and every
 tenant that is signed up" or other wise pledged to secure the lien of
 the government for repayment of it's prOpOrtiOnate share of the cost of
 construction has a valid and inde-
 feasible right To it's pro rata share iof the water available. SO long as
 the stautory and contractual cOndi-
 tions of the government are observed I-Whether the tract embraces or t160 acres What amount of water shah this represent in concrete fig lures? To the average western man,
 this question will appear capable of easy answer but the importance of the subject seems to warrant some explanation and the answer involves the consideration of the sO-called
 duty of water It must be remem-
 bered that portions of the valley had
 been irrigated, not only in prehistoric
 times. as the remains of ancient
 ditches abundantly testify but during
 the era of which we treat the first
 ditch having been built in 1867,
 Development of cultivation and ir- rgation continued rapidly. settlers be ing attracted by the manifold advan- tages of soil and climate. During all
 the period prior to the construction
 of the Roosevelt dam and reservoir irrigation, excluding the small area served by pumping the undcrfloW, was entirely dependent upon the
 caprice of the Salt River. How CT ratic this flow is from month to month and how great it's volume , is displayed in interesting fashion in
 the records of tic geological survey
 covering d period of a quarter cen tury. The result of this extension
 meant appropriation of the de- I
 CT and consequent distress of the
 later ditchcs. The earlier prlOrlties were dccrecd the rights to which they . were entitled by the local courts : upon the universally established prin- : ciple. First in time. first in right and as rule these rights were Oi tangible value exactly in proportion to the duration and amount of flow of the stream. Parenthetically, t may be explained that it was this condition that forced the agitation for the much needed storage of water and equalization-~Of flow. The eX- istcncc of so large an acreage under ditch without dependable supply of water: of the great area of land of tremendous potential value; of the recognition of the inherent advan- tages of the valley were all of them factors in deciding the location oi
 government activity.
 This historical Aggression is intro duced here to show that agriculture had been carried on in the valley during a period extended enough tC ! demonstrate the water needs of ] tl,c saf