The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-04-12
THE HAsKIN LET E.R.
Flood and Water Famine
BY Frederio !. Haskin.

Frs 81 Fred
Most persons think OF water as a
substance almost as abundant ais air.
Even the farmer whose crops are alb
lsolutely dependent upon rainfall re-
\ CARDS it largely as matter of chance
quite beyond all human control
whether he has good year or poor
one Scientists, however, know thai
the country has definite and limited
supply OF water. which is its agri-
!. cultural capital, and, moreover, they
know that this supply is steadily de-
icreasing. The question OF how to
:, conserve the water supply of the
1 United States. involving, as it does,
flood control and water power as we'll
| as our agricultural future, is perhaps
the greatest economic problem con
fronting the people Of the United
States today. H
II is a matter OF common observa
istion that the great foods OF the
mississippi valley. which destroy an
Leverage of a hundred million dol
liars worth of property annually, have
gained their size and frequency
Ichietiy during the last two decades
During this same period droughts
have become more severe and Of
more common occurrence. Again and
again, large sections of the agricul-
tural West report their crops shriv-
leled by long unbroken spells OF
drought which were almost unknown
lin the same regions not so5very many
years ago.
The relation between drought and
4 food has been known in p general
way to scientists for a long time.
They have realized the immense
Quantities Of water carried off by
1.-The water which should have been
|5stored within it to nourish life. But
recent Investigations have proved
conclusiyely thar the actual amount
y of the reserve supply of water held
in the subsoil of this country has
greatly decreased within the last few.
years. and is still decreasing They
iHhave shown, further. that many OF
1.-THE great rivers of the East. in addi-
||tion to those which are subject TO
spring foods. have changed their
habit of flow, becoming more irreg-
Hular and intermittent. In a word. ~
HIS Il matter of record and not of spec
Iulation that the United States is dry
Hing up and that the possibility Of a
water famine in this country is a
contingent to be reckoned with
We, as Il nation, have never had as
much water as we NEEDED. Agrono-
mists know that water. il rightly APP
piled to the land. will produce just
lone-thousandth part of its weight in
useful crops. and that on ordinary
soils, sixty inches Of rainfall are re-
average rainfall Of the mainland of
the United States is only thirty
inches. Moreover, this rainfall III
unequa1ly distributed. SO that less
than half our area gets enough water
III to be productive at all. while nearly
\ half OF ii receives too little to make
farming possible without irrigation.
Thus it seems that tie United
Il States has no water to waste. And
\ from a national point of view, this
Il fact is the more important. because
practically all of our arab1e lands
have been taken up and placed ~nder
s.cultiVation. Our national growth
Icannot be maintained by extending
i the settled area, but only by more
4 Intensive farming of our lands. And
i more production is impossible with
4 out a greater supply of water.
The country's reserve supply OF
4 water. is held in the soil. The amount
i of this water gradually increasei
y from the surface downward for the
first 100 feet. and then gradually de-
stcrcases as the composition Of the
Hearth becomes more solid and i'm
lnermeable. The level of saturation.
Il or the point at which the soil holds
!; all the water that it can hold. is
known as the water table, The
support of plant life depends upon
the contents of this subterranean
reservoir being near enough the sur
face. 50 that5it can reach the roots
tof the plants. This it does by capil-
;ilarity-that is, the tendency Of the
fluid to ascend through narrow open
i ings, on the same principle that IL
drop Of medicine may be taken up I'll
IA tube. II the water table falls to
lsuch Il low level that the water can
mot reachathe plant roots by capillar-
1 ity. then the land will not support
useful crops. Thus, there are many
places in the West where the pres
ience of ground water may be demon
Estrated by sinking a we'll shaft. but
(which are arid desserts because this
water is beyond the reach of capillar-
ity.
That the water table OF the United
Estates at large is gradually sinking,
that the soil. In a word. is drying up
like a sponge exposed to the sun, has
been most clearly demonstrated ~
Hal unique and interesting census OF
wells taken not long ago BY the
Hunted States depa rtment of agricul-
iture. "A blank circular requesting
information about wells was circu-
LATED among the townships crop re-
porters all over the United States.
which supply the department with its
\ information about crops. Statistics
4 were compiled on over 1000 wells
In ten states
The most imp fact W hich this
investigation brought out was that
the mean a agricultural water table OF
the country. as shown by the depth
4 at which the water stands in the
wells. is now JUST about a slow as II
can be. and still furnish a capillary
supply to plants growing at the SUR
face. Furthermore. for over 5000
of these wells. levels We're given at
two different periods. If the water