The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-04-25
IRRIGATION BY UN-
DERCROUND WATER

One of the big recent developments
in the building up of the arid and
semi-arid states is the recovery of un-
derground water for irrigation. For
merly nearly all irrigation supplies
were derived from surface streams,
but two conditions have in recent years
directed attention to the valuable sup
plies of water which are stored in the
huge subterranean reservoirs underly-
| ing many of the desert areas of the
West, and which can be tapped by drill
ing wells. The first of these condi.
tions is the rapid exhaustion of the un-
appropriated surface supplies and the
necessity of finding other supplies If
the irrigation of the arid lands is to
be extended; the second is the reduc-
ton in the cost of pumping due to i'm
provements in pumps, the development
of internal-combustion engines, and the
installation of large hydro-electric
power plants.
When the last federal census was
taken more than half a million acres
of land was irrigated in the United
States with water supplied by wells,
about ree-fourths of which was pump
ed, the rest rising to the surface by ar
tesian pressure. Since that time prog
ress has been made in the recovery of
underground water. At first ground
waite irrigation was almost wholly con-
fined to a few regions, such as south
ern California, the Pecos valley, and
the Arkansas valley, but now nearly
all parts of the West are being pros
pected for groundwater supplies
Owing to the diversity in geologic
conditions the occurrence of under
ground water differs greatly from place
to place. Many of the desert valleys
have large and valuable supplies; but
others which appear no less promising
to the casual observer have little or no
underground water or only water that
is too deep to be proftably pumped or
too alkaline to be used for irrigation.
The uncertainties attending ground
water developments are causing great
loss and suffering to thousands of un-
informed and inexperienced settlers
and are providing INSCRIPTIONS pro-
moters with opportunities for misrep-
resentation.
| Long before the interest in under
ground water had become as general as
it is today, the Geological Survey fore
saw the need of a detailed ground
water survey of the entire West, and
for years it has been engaged upon
such a survey. Each year certain areas
are selected for systematic investiga-
tion, the plan being ultimately to cover
the entire West vast amount of re-
liable information has thus been OBJ
| tanned on the quantity, depth, and
quality of the water, the prospects for
artesian flows, the best methods of con-
structing wells, the cost of drilling and
pumping, and other matters relating to
the recovery and utilization of the un-
derground supplies, and maps are made
showing the ground-water conditions.
These maps and data are published in
series of watersupply papers.
The region to be covered is, how
ever, so extensive and the funds avail
able for water-resource investigations
hae been comparatively so small that
large areas remain in regard to which
there is no definite information, and
many years will be required at the
present rate of progress to cover all of
these areas, provided the work is to
be done with the thoroughness that is
essential to make it useful Every year
many requests for Investigations of
specific areas are received, some of
them in the form of long petitions
signed by the settlers. All these re-
quests are given careful consideration,
but it is possible to respond favorably
to only few of the most meritorious.
The people IS appreciation of this SER
vice is shown by the large number of
requests for information and advice
that are constantly received by the
| Geological Survey. Some of the water
supply papers are so much in demand
that the editions for free distribution
are exhausted within a few weeks after
the papers are published.
The list of publications of the Geo
| logical Survey contains nearly 100 re-
ports dealing with the underground wa
ters of the Western states. The water
supply papers that are still in stock can
be obtained by addressing the Director,
Unied States Geological Survey, Wash
| ington, d. c. Many of them are now
out of stock at the Survey, but most
of these can be purchased at cost (av-
eraging 20 or 25 cents) from the Su-
perintendent of Documents, Govern
ment Printing Office, Washington d.
C. A complete list of the publications
of the Survey can be obtained by any
one on application.