Arizona republican., 1919-10-22

 county highway commission in order 10 furnish material for the roads to be built with the bonds voted by the coun- ty. The legal adviser gave his opinion that the Water Users could make ce- ment for association use under the present charter but to be able to sell to ohers would require an amendment to the articles Of incorporation. Present needs of the association are about 800 barrels month. Should the Horseshoe dam be built on the Verde river. much more would be required
 | The needs for road building would be the product of plant of 1 900 bar i rels daily capacity for two years. Such a plant would require an investment 1 Of about $600,000. according to the re- ! port of an expert employed by the as- sociation. At least six months would be needed to get the plant into opera | ton. The second issue is set forth as fol- lows on the official ballot:
 Shall the board of governors be au- | thorlzed to incur in the name of and on behalf of the association, an in 1 deotedness of not to exceed $500 900 Tor the purpose of providing funds for the construction Of a steam power plant to be operated as an auxiliary to l the existing hydraulic power plant:
 provided that the time for payment of said indebtedness, or the last instam- ment thereof shall not be fixed beyond the period of ten years from the date such indebtedness is incurred"
 The power system of the project is secondary to the use of water for irri- | gation and consequently no water should be drawn from the reservoir for power purposes alone, it is stated | There are practically four months in the year when irrigation needs do not | furnish sufficient water with which to generate primary power In order to secure better rates for power furnished by being able to give continuous ser | vice without regard to water condl- uons, 1t is proposed to build an auxi-
 liary steam plant to be used as
 standby. Such a plant would be built and operated in connection with one of the existing water power plants and with nearly the same crew. It
 would operate only when water was not available. Such a plant is neces- sary to furnish continuous services to the water users on their ranches in the contemplated distribution of cur
 rent for domestic and farm uses.
 Issue number three has to do with the drainage of the certain or all par- 1 cells of land in the valley. In the off cial ballot, the question is thusly set ! forth:
 Shall section 1 of article 4 of the 1 articles of incorporation of the Salt
 River Valley Water Users association
 be amended by inserting:
 "To construt install, operate and maintain pumps, ditches. conduits and l no or all of the lands receiving water through the irrigation works of the as- sociation."
 The fourth issue has to do with the same subject as is set forth as follows:
 TT the drainage amendment to the ] articles of incorporation is approved ! by the shareholders. shall the board of l governors be authorized to incur an | expenditure of s75,O00 each year for l drainage construction by including the same in the regular annual budget, i provided that no further sun for drain 1 age construction shall be expended in any year unless the same shall be first 1 approved by a majority of the votes cast at an annual election or at an, | election called for that purpose" 1 Underground water is becoming a | menace in several sections of the prof ] ect to a total of over 50,00O acres. 1 When the new pumps were installed ! to develop additional water they were so located as to best reduce the under- | ground water level over considerable areas. Their operation is showing a ! marked effect for a radius of half a mile around the wells and within a comparatively short period of opera ! ton, the average reduction in the un- derground water level has been two and one-half feet. However, there are certain areas where the water must be removed in some other way to relieve ! the endangered land
 A drainage report has been made to the association by a board of compe-
 tent engineers and printed copies are available on request at the association