The Washington herald., 1914-07-23
Water as a Resource.
BY DIR. w. ]. aI'GEE.

Late Secretary U. s. Inland Waterways Commission
No more significant advance has been made in our
history than that of the last year two. in which
our waters have come to be considered resource
one definitely limited in quantity, yet susceptible of
conservation and of increased benehcence through
wise utilization. The conquest of nature, which began
with progressive control of the soil and its products
and passed to the minerals is extending to the
waters on above and beneath the surface. The con-
quest will not be complete until these waters are
brought under complete control.
The mean annual precipitation on the territory of
mainland United States is about thirty inches; the
quantity falling the land with the included water
is about Soooooooo acre feet 1t is equivalent
to ten Mississippi Rivers. From this all our
running. standing and ground waters are derived.
OF the total rainfall half is evaporated about
third flows into the sea; the remaining sixth is
either consumed or absorbed. These divisions, which
may be called respectively, the hy-o, the run-o and
the cutoff, partly interchangeable. About third
of the run-o tenth of the entire rainfall passes
through the Mississippi: The run-of is increasing
with cultivation and deoresation; that of the Mssis'
sipp has increased from some Io5oooooooo,ooo to
22oooooooooooo cubic feet as recently gagged by
Leighton 1t is wholly within reach of human control
Three-quarters of per cent of our total RAINFALL
per cent of that the Western two-ffths of
area is annually diverted rrgable lands sggregat
ing some 100000 acres.
+ The 100000 horse power today available exceeds
entire mechanical power in use, and would
operate every MILL drive every spindle propel every
train and boat and light every city town and village
in the country The nominal value is $40 per horse
power year; the price ranges up to SIoo or SI5o.
While the utilization of water power ranks among
our most recent and most rapid industrial develop
ments, little effort has been made to control catch
ment areas or storm waters in any large way for
power development, though most plants effect local
control through reservoirs and structures Nearly
all of the freshet and food water to waste and
the low waters which limit the efficiency of power
plants increasing in frequency and duration with
the increasing food run-of
1t has been roughly estimated that the inland
waterways of the country could be improved in ten
years at of Ssooooooo annually in such manner
as to promote interstate commerce and at the same
time greatly reduce the waste and extend the use Of
the waters. If done at the cost of the people the
burden would be So62 Ia per capita per year, or
S625 in all, for population of So,oooooo
1t is roughly estimated that the direct benefits
would comprise annual saving in transportation
of S25ooooooo; an anual saving in food damage of
SI5ooooooo; an average annual saving in forest fires
of at least Sz5oooooo; an annual benefit through
cheapened power of fully S75oooooo and an annual
saving in soil erosion corresponding benefit through
increased farm production of S5oooooooo-a total of
SI,ooooooooo or SI2.5o per capita annually; |. E.,
twenty times the cost
In addition, large benefits would result from ex-
tended irrigation from the drainage and settlement
of swamp and overflow land, and from purified and
cheapened water supply. with consequent diminution
of disease and saving Of human life
tc t,att tba
developed by works for the improvement of naviga-
tio if utilized at current market rates in cooperation
with States and citizens would alone compensate the
entire of maintenance and continued development
after the initial expenditure of $5oooooooo as work
ing capital.