Imperial Valley press., 1921-12-10

Sor, according TO StatlStcS covering
observations made under government
authority for the past twenty years,
is an average of 16, 100000 acre feet.
Such an amount Of water, if stored
and released under an equalized head
throughout the year, would provide
water for the irrigation of three to five
million acres of land But unfortun-
ately, the Colorado river annually dis
charges much of its waters in destruc-
tive foods in volume as high as 150-
900 to 200, 900 cubic feet per second dur
ing Il period of from six to eight
weeks and during other seasons, when
the runoff from the upper basin is
low, the discharge has been known to
fall as low as 5000 cubic feet per sec
ond at Yuma.
With the present acreage tributary
to the canal system of the I:npe"ial
Irrigation District. the maximum daily
requirement has reached as high as
$500 second feet per day. Fortunately,
during the pastfew years, we have not
encountered a seasonal minimum dis
charge which has meant a serious
shortage Immediately following the
flood season, but that shortage is more
intimately connected with other phases
of our problem, that is, diversion and
river control. 1t is apparent, then, that
if further acreage in Imperial and Riv
erside counties available for irr. gait
is TO be brought under the canal sys-
tenn of Imperial Valley, and if other
acreage in Mexico is to be permitted
to share with us in the use of the wat
ers now available, the water supply
must be augmented and made stable
by the erection of a storage dam which
shall have capacity sufficient to col
lect and hold back the peak of the
flood discharge of the Colorado river
which is now pure economic waste
and a destructive agency of tremen-
dous power, and make it available for
use as required.
In 1918 the Imperial Irrigation Dis
trict Board, recognizing the right of
these ne wlands to be provided with
water, entered into contract with
the Secretary of the Interior, under
which a cooperative survey was made
for the purpose OF dtermining
whether 1t would be feasible and prac-
teal from any engineering and eco
nomic point of view to connect the
present canal system of the Imperial
Irrigation District with the govern
ment dam at Laguna, and at the same
time construct Il highline canal On the
American side of the international
line which would supply water for ir-
rigation to some 100000 acres of land
imm ediately east of the boundaries of
| the Irrigation District, which is popu-
! larly referred to as the Eastside Mesa.
| That survey was in charge of Messrs.
c. j.. Grunsky, of San Francisco; DR..
Ellwood Mead, Of the University of CO.
| lorado and w. w. Schlecht, project
manager at Yuma That commission
has heretofore reported that it is both
prac acticai and feasible to construct and
operate such a canal.
| AS required under the law of the
state of California, the Irrigation Dis
trict Board submitted to the State En-
! gineeS rof California and the Bond
Commission Of the State of California.
the information contained In the report
| in connection with it's application for
authority to issue its bonds for the
construction of that part of the work
which would serve only to connect the
present canal system with the I4aguna
dam In other words, to provide for di-
version. The cost Of such work, while
not out Of reason, runs into large fig
ures. II was apparent to the board of
directors, as 'well as to the State au-
lthorities, that such work could only be
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