American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1922-02-24

able to get / inch per acre for a very
short period in July when everyone
wants all the water ne can get. BY
purchasing additional water is he
only possible means of securing this
additional rate of delivery. The cost
of a normal flow right of such a pri-
GRITTY date as to be of value when
needed would be prohibitive. AS I
have said we do not need this storage
water for this purpose at this time
and have no canal capacity to use it il
we had the water but by tine time the
American Falls reservoir is completed
we will, l sincerely hope, have mater
tally increased our carrying capacity
and the project viii also have mater
ialy increased in cultivated acreage. I
believe there are many on the project
to whom this use of the storage water
will appeal as strongly as it doe sto me
and to some this use may appeal more
than the benefit to be derived in an
especially short year At least this is
an argument to use against the
ment that we will have no use for the
water except one year in ten.
An Explanation.
Now l must not be inconsistent for
| contend that there is at the present
time a too lavish use of water on this
project. How then can I argue in
favor of securing more water? For
this reason: the too lavish use to
which 1 refer is not too much water
being used in the height of the season
but too much water being used at a
time when it is not needed. To make
it palmer l contend that our present
rate of delivery (5-8) inch per acre)
is not only not too high a rate but L
do not believe it is high enough a rate
for certain periods of the s The
trouble is that irrigators use too small
a stream and use it for too long a time.
By irrigating in this manner they lose
a large percentage of their water by
deep percolation ard it is the deep per-
collation. that waterlogs the country.
l contend that at the present time
the total quantity of water used dur
ing a season on this project is rather
too large than too small but it is not
used at b right time to produce the
maximum yields. l firmly belive that
IL we had storage water to supplement
u normal flow during the peak of
the season we would tend to stop
waterlogging rather than aggravate 1t.
You realize that IL you knew that you
could get a lesser stream OF water at
the proper time you would not be
soaking your land early in the spring
and late in the fall. At the present
time | am advocating early watering.
Why2 Because l realize that we do
not have carrying capacity, or normal
flow enough to supply all the water
that is needed for the crops during the
period when that water does the most
good. If we had a storage right SO
that all of our normal flow from May
LIST to October LIST could be held and
a canal large enough to deliver that
water at the rates desired / believe we
could raise better crops than we now
do and that we would use less water
in a season.
VIII Work for Increase.
Now | have presented my ideas as
TO why we need the additional water.
There Is no question In my mind
about that part of it and l feel that /
should do all in my power to convince
the stockholders of this project of
these facts. Neither do / believe there
is any merit TO the argument that the
construction of the reservoir will ma
terially raise the ground water level
on the lands that are now being wa
If 1t affects any sections those
sections will be so small as to be me-
eligible.
Ii the other companies who have ap-
piled for water are able to purchase
we certainly are. / do not believe
there Is a project, except some of the
Upper River projects, that is in as
good a financial condition as we are
at the present time. We are so for
tunately situated that we can pay for
storage water along with our main
tenance and operation and still keep
our assessments as low, or lower, than
other projects when they are not pay
ing for any storage water.