Imperial Valley press., 1919-05-20
YUMA MOVES
/ D. GU I OFF
SUPPLY Of
WATER HERE

The Imperial Valley today is fac.
ing one of the most critical and seri-
Gus situations in it's history-a con.
diti0n that is almost without parallel
in the West.
Unless Congress, which assembled
the other day in Washington in ex-
traOrdinary session, comes to the res
cue almost Immediately, the Valley
may be waterless during the coming
summer months.
The situation is SO desperate that
this afternoon the board of directors
of the Irrigation District were thresh.
ing over the PERSONAL of a big and
representative commission which is to
leave for the national capital within
week to lay the Valleys case before
Congress-.
This Climax in water affairs came
almost out Of clear sky and is the
result of an important conference held
in Yuma on Monday between the Dis
trict directors and the officers and
directors of the Yuma Water Users
Association.
At this meeting the Yuma people
served notice on the Valley that they
would no longer tolerate the weir ut
HanlOn's Heading, the structure
which has partially, at least. assured
the Valley of a water supply during
the months of July and August-the
extreme dry seasOn-and that they
would Immediately take court steps
to obtain permanent injunction
against the maintenance of the weir.
., Heretofore. the structure has been
tolerated under an agreement with
the Yuma people, but only after the
District had placed up huge bond
to care for any possible damage to
the l0wlands of the Yuma section
from the backflOw or overflow of the
restrained water.
In court many months ago Yuma
obtained q temporary injunction
against the building Of the weir, but
matters were finally adjusted, after
much negotiation. by the filing of
the property damage bond and by Sc
curing the consent of the War De-
partment, supplemented by the VAL
leys' promise of an early connection
with the Laguna dam. ea:t
It is understood the Yuma people
cOntended that the Valley had made
no appreciable. progress toward the
settlement of it's water problems; that
little Or no effort had been made to
bring the All.American canal and the
Laguna dam connection to cOnsum.
nation. and that it would therefore
proceed to pray the courts to make
Then injunction permanent.
Faced with the alternative of
prompt action toward getting relief
from the federal government or a dis
astrOus drOuth, which would bring fl
nancial ruin to scores of ranchers and
business men, besides causing an
enormous and damaging depreciation
in the value of property in the Valley.
the District will make an immediate
and determined effort to obtain a
Congressional appropriation.
In Washington Attorney Phil ID.
Swing, the man selected to do the
pioneer work in the task of securing
federal aid and support in the build.
ing of the All.American canal, is full
~ cOgnizaet Of the situation and has
drafted Bill for presentation to Con-
gress.
This bill, it is thought, calls for
the appropriation, through special
act Of Congress, of an amount of
money sufficient to start the pro-
ject or to handle the Valleys imme-
date needs in the direction of wa.
ter.
Late this afternoon the personnel
of the special committee had not been
fully determined, but it was tenta.
lively arranged that each Valley
com unity would have one represen.
tative each, reinforced by represen-
tatives from the Farm Bureau. the
Associated Chambers of Commerce,
and possibly the Board Of Supervis-
OrS.