Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1930-12-28
Harding Tells About Delta Orchards DEVELOPMENT
WILLACY
DISTRICT TO
WATER AREA
Tremendous Amount
Being Spent On
System

NED III. SANFORD. ice-President
~ Morgan Engineering Company.
District Engineers
The largest irrigation project
which has eve been undertaken in
the State of Texas is now under
construction in Willacy county.
This district, the name Of which is
willacy County Water Control and
Improvement District Number One.
embraces an area of 10000 acres
III fertile lands in the lower Rio
6rande Valley in the vicinity OF
Raymondville. Willacy County. Tex
as. The district was organized a
little more than two years ago and
soon thereafter a permit was secured
from the State Board OF Water
Engineers for taking water from the
Rio Grande with which TO irrigate
the land.
Work Is Started
Work was started Immediately
making plans for getting the water
from the Rio Grande TO the district
and for distributing the water to
the land within the project. Plan
ming an irrigation system requires
an accurate map of the area to be
served with water, showing the
elevations Of the ground and exist
ing features such as roads, rail-
roads. towns. etc, all Of which have
important influences on the loca-
ton and size OF irrigation canals.
No accurate map OF the District
was available, so the first big task
which the engineers tackled was
that Of making a survey OF the
entire region within the boundaries
Of the project and compiling the
information into a map. This re-
quired some six months.
Work on the irrigation system,
however, was not delayed until the
map could be completed but as
rapidly as parts of the area were
mapped and definite features of the
project could be planned, this was
done and the work Staked out on
the ground so that IL could be
constructed by the equipment which
was placed on the job TO do the
~W0E. BY thus coordinating the
{apping, the engineering planning
the construction work, it was
possible to materially speed up the
progress and bring water to the
project at a much earlier date than
would otherwise have been possible.
Features or Plan
The Willary county irrigation
ulan NAV be divided into three
primary divisions. first the intake
canal. second, the storage reservoir,
and third, the distribution system.
The intake canal. q miles long. VIII
bring water from the Rio Grande
10 the storage reservoir located
within the district, where the water
will be held over until needed o
irrigation. Through a distribution
system OF concrete lined canals and
concrete pipe lines water will be
carried from the reservoir TO r.
rfrate every tract of land within
the district. This. in 5Tief. outlines
the operation of the irrigation
works. In order that a more COM
plete understanding may be had OF
the plan and the factors which
influence the workings OF the IT.
rigation system, a description OF
these features and their allied
considerations Is essential.
Plenty or Water
The water which will be used to
irrigate the Willacy county project
lands will be taken from the Rio
Grande. The Rio Grande heads IN
southern Colorado and winds its
way south acroS the state OF New
Mexico 10 the westernmost tip OF
Texas and then pursues a generally
southeasterly course forming me
boundary between Texas and Mexico
TO an outlet in the Gulf Of Mexico
Just below Brownsville, Texas. The
total effective drainage area OF the
Rio Xrande is $500 square miles.
CT Willacy county water viii be
taken >from the river at a point
only a short distance above the
mouth Of the river in the Gull.
statistics have been collected on
the discharge Of the Rio Grande by
the international Water Commits
sion and these r contained IN the
Report Of the American Section
OF the international Water Commits
sion. United States and Mexico
list Congress. I'd session, House
Document No. 359.
The discharge at Rio Grande
City. which Is practically at the
head Of the Lower Rio Grande
Valley. is given for the years 1928
10 1928 inclusive. This information
has been extracted and is given in
the accompanying Table J.. The
discharge throughout this period OF
wears varies from $4,000 acre
feet to 7.32o.000 acre-feet. The same
Government source of information
also gives the estimated total divers
ions OF water from the Rio Grande
in the Lower Rio Grande Valley by
existing irrigation enterprises. This
data Is also shown in Table /. The
quantity of water so used for ir-
riration varies from $4,000 acre
feet to 5000 acre-feet. Comparison
or the water used for irrigation
with the total discharge Of the
river shows that on the average
only Is per cent Of the total run
off Of the stream was used for If
rigatinz purposes. The balance. IS
Der GENT. flowed unused to the Gulf
Of s(esicO.
win Use Flood Flow
Willacy county's plan for taking
its water from the Rio Grande is
based on capturing n part OF this
1er~o volume nf uafar unirh r0vr