Arizona sentinel., 1917-08-02
DRAINAGE FOR YUMA VALLEY ABSOLUTELY NEG EssARY-WOULD BE CRIMINAL TO
 STOP THE WORK.

tion Service spent several days in Yuma last week in consultation with Project Manager Schecht in con- necton with the drainage system now under course o con- structon Yuma Valley and was my pleasure to be With
 him much of the during his stay for confess wanted to know more about the drainage question than already knew especially of the sledgehammer blows my good old friend Uncle George Fsbaugh has been deal ing the work now progressing satisfactorily in Yuma Val ley.
 Tt isnot my province my desire to attempt to force the people to adopt drainage system for Yuma Vaey said Chief Murphy My duty is plainly mapped out by the department do as am instructed after have made
 close study of conditions and report whether drainage necessary not. have reported time and time agan that complete and comprehensive drainage system nec essary for Yuma Valley Other drainage engineers have made similar report The ruling officials of the Reclama-
 on Service and the Interior department more or less familiar with conditions Yuma Valley and they are thor oughy convinced that complete drainage sys- the earliest possible date ii we wish to keep una Valley lands their present high state of productivity For all these reasons convinced the work will go right ahead until the entire system shall have been completed
 The good effects of the drainage system will show itself long before the system shall have been completed and when the present opponents of drainage what real good by the system they will be the oudest in it's praise
 may not generally known yet is true, that the local Reclamation officials have for several years kept an record of test wells practically every section corner throughout Yuma Valley These test wells are usually examined twice per month and the exact distance the water table from the surface located when the subsequent readings made it be seen at glance whether the water table is raising lowering have carefully examined all these records and they show beyond the question of doubt that during the last year the water table has risen fraction and half feet. In many places the valley where much salt be seen the surface the water table is now LESS than FOUR feet from the surface. This is practically all caused by If in cultivation the the surface the water table,
 But to prove another great value of the drainage sys only necessary go down to the Mexican line and see the immense of water being pumped from the three miles of drainage canal that has already been con- peted Project manager Schecht sent sample of this drainage San Francisco and Denver and had analysed ascertain the of salt that daily be- ing extracted from the lands being drained The report shows that the contains than onetenth of per salt very much if you drink only cup full Of it, but when you consider the millions of cups full pumped out every day. and then reduce that small into actual weight you will be astounded The canal designated out 75 cubic feet of water per second Based on m vesgaons made other projects where the lands con- tain no more salt than in Yuma Valley is estimated that when all the valley lands placed under cultivation the per of salt will have increased to ONEHALF OF ONE PER CENT instead of one-tenth, at present. That would that the drainage canal discharges 75 cubic feet of per second with onehaf of per cent o
 this a you would have cubic feet of salt per day or by weight it would make 100000 of salt per year extracted from the lands cultivation in Yuma Valley That seems almost incredible and yet the figures taken from the Reclamation records and absolutely liable Is any wonder therefore that those who vital interested the welfare of Yuma Valley than anxious for this drainage system to be completed? Chief Murphy regarded of the very best drainage gneers the United States and after going the ords of the water table in Yuma Valley and hearing him give the for the rapid rise of this water forcing the salt the surface, and naturally killing everything in it's