Arizona republican., 1918-03-22
JUDGE K|BbEY SHOWS COST IF
 VERDE DAM BUT 94 CENTS ACRE
Water Authority Covers Pro and Con- of Proposition
 to Vote Obligation to Build Storage Reservoir or Verde River-Section Would Secure Great Benefit by Addition og 30OOO More Irrigated Acres ill Secoil

floods, to a greater extent than the Salt. They come more often in the Verde than in the Salt. The summer floods in the Verde, while of consld- erable frequency, are usually of short duration as compared with those of the Salt.
 Verde Water Goes to Waste, It consequently happens that often there is waste of water from the floods in the Verde. It is this water that can be stored. The amount of water that can thus be stored is of importance ln determining the practicability of con- structing the Verde reservoir. And here enters matter for consid- eration by the members of the associ- ation, aside from the mere use Of such stored waters for irrigation. The association has a contract with, among others, the Inspiration and Mi ami Copper Companies for the delivery to them of electrical power. The ar rangement with the Copper companies l is to take whatever power the associ- ation can develop and which is not oth- erwise disposed of.
 | The most of the power that can be conveniently delivered to the copper 1 company is that generated at the Roosevelt Dam. The amount of water necessary to generate that power is less than that usually required for ir- rigation so that it does not usually in- volve loss of water that may be used 1 for irrigation.
 But when the Verde is at flood it is doubtful practice to use any water at
 all from the reservoir, and in such case there would be no development of pow CT there and consequently large loss
 of revenue to the association. It is desirable that the service of power to the company should be as
 regular and uninterrupted as possible. By reason of flood occurring with
 considerable frequency in the Verde, the necessary draft upon the Roosevelt
 Reservoir is variable; at times drop ping below that necessary to generate
 the required power, and the supply of
 such power becomes variable and ac-
 cordingly disadvantageous, and may
 and doubtless would, result in consid- erable loss of revenue from that source. If reservoir is constructed by the association on the Verde, so that the flood water of that river can be held
 back and used as needed, the draft on the Roosevelt Reservoir would become
 much more constant, and the supply of
 power rendered much more regular and
 hence more profitable to the associ-
 ation.
 If the reservoir on the Verde should
 however be constructed and operated
 by others than the association, this
 great advantage could not accrue to
 the water users of the reclamation
 project.
 Of how much value this regulation of
 the generation of power at the Roose-
 Ep1 hxy of ctn
 the Verde, is, am not able to estimate
 That it is of considerable value how
 ever, think is obvious.
 The government under it's contract
 with the Water Users association, en-
 tered into in 1904 was required to make
 an estimate upon the completion of the
 project of the total number of acres
 that could be made susceptible of irri-
 gation with the water that might be
 made available by the project works from all sources.
 irrisate About 1s5,ooo Acres In pursuance of this agreement the
 secretary of the interior appointed z board known as the Board of Survey
 to investigate this subject and repor their estimate of the acreage that could
 be irrigated.
 This board consisted of F. W. Hanna W. A. Parrish, and MT. Frank H. Park
 CT. It spent some months in it's inves
 tigations.
 The board made it's preliminary re , port to the secretary in 1913, and tn report was adopted by that official. There have been some modification of the estimate made by the board. I : stands now finally at 185,000 acres ex
 elusive of certain lands known a townsite lands, and of course of land , not signed up in the association. CTh exact number of acres as now show
 is 1s4,s97.95, difference of 102.05 acre as have carried it in this discussion. l85,000 acres Gin round numbers) i E the basis upon which the cost of tn 2 project per acre is computed. 7 The cost of the project charge against the Water Users Associatio was fixed finally by the secretary ( the interior as of the 1st of Decembe ; 1917, at 1Q,166,021.97. On this bas the cost per acre which the Watt , Users have to pay is s54.95. ,. The proposition submitted to il is Water Users to be voted upon at u :. ensuing election is to increase the acr, [, age to be charged with the cost of COT '' struction by 30,000 acres, making u
 aggregate 215,000 instead of 1850, /, acres. All within the present limits q the Salt River project.
 .r The engineer of the association, N .7 Elliott, has estimated that 30,000 acr {, in addition to the 1S5,000 can be irr ,,e gated from the increased supply