Arizona republican., 1913-04-20
WATER'S COST
 BY THE ACRE
Statement by Director New ell Covering Private Ca rcv Act and Reclamation Irrigation Projects; Why
 Construction Cost Grows

Director Newell, of the reclamation service. recently issued a memoran- dunn concerning the cost of water per acre under practically all of the private irrigation enterprises, as well as those built under the Carey act and those constructed by the reclam- ation service Preceding the tabula- tion the memorandum states:
 The cost per acre of water rights or water for irrigation in the arid region under the present conditions of construction. is far higher than is usually appreciated. During earlier decades. before any considerable mum Der of large irrigation canals had been built, it was relatively simple and inexpensive matter for farmers to join together and build small canals that could be enlarged as the de mands for more water increased All such available opportunities, however have been utilized and development has proceeded to a point where on most of the recent irrigation systems it has been necessary to provide stor- age, thus adding materially to the cost.
 There has been also notable in- crease in the cost of labor and ma teriaI used in construction. This condition has been pointed out in various hearings before congress, not ably in the series before the ways and means committee of the house of representatives at the time of the granting of the $20.000, ,O00 loan. It is there shown. notably in d state ment submitted by Representative MOndell. that one of the arguments for an increase of the reclamation fund was the fact that common labor had advanced from the time of the preparation Of the plans for works in 1903 and 1904 from twenty per cent to fifty per cent and that the efficiency of such labor had fallen off in greater proportion. Costs were also affected by the increased price of material and equipment"
 Referring to the tables, the mem orandum continues: These figures obtained from printed reports of state engineers and public data show that on over 90 modern irrigation systems being built by private cor porate capital the cost per acre aV- erages nearly $53. This cost does not include the annual cost for op- eration and maintenance.
 The cost to the settler is increas- ed by the fact that payment is made on most of these projects in install ments bearing interest at six per cent or even more. The total pay ments made for such a water right with simple interest at six per cent would be about $70,50 per acre on the basis of ten equal annual in stallments of the principal as com pared to $53 without interest
 l The first table contains data con corning thirty eight private projects l and consists of the number of acres | under each project with the cost per acre The lowest cost per acre is that of the Otero Irrigation company with 20.000 acres, at $40 an acre 1 The highest cost per acre is that of | the Beaver Land and Irrigation com pany with 20000 acres, which was $175 per acre The Pueblo Rocky i Ford Irrigation company a project of 1 1000 acres costs the water users $50 an acre
 In the table of the Carey act pro- 1 jects. the cost per acre ranges from 1 $30 in the Keating Carey Land com pany with 15,597 acres to $100 an l acre under the Powder Land and i Irrigation company of 65,0O0 and $15O