STATE GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL 

 HISTORY SURVEY 



FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT 



Cooperation with United States Geological Survey in 



Study of Water Resources 



In the Report of the Commissioners of the State Geological 

 and Natural History Survey to the General Assembly in 191 1, 

 it was intimated that two plans were under consideration for the 

 inauguration of a kind of work different from that in which the 

 Survey had been engaged in previous years and having a some- 

 what more direct economic bearing. The two projects under con- 

 sideration were a survey of the soils of Connecticut, and a survey 

 of the water resources of Connecticut. After thorough investi- 

 gation, it was decided that the latter project was the more de- 

 sirable of the two. Accordingly, in the past two years the bulk 

 of the appropriation of the State Geological and Natural History 

 Survey has been applied to an investigation of the water resources 



of the state. 



One consideration making it desirable to enter upon the 

 investigation of the water resources of the state at this time, was 

 that the United States Geological Survey was ready to cooperate 

 in such investigation, appropriating from the United States 

 Treasury an amount equal to that which was appropriated from 

 the State Treasury. It was therefore practicable for us, by the use 

 of $2,000 of the appropriation made by the State of Connecticut, 

 to secure for the work on the water resources the expenditure of 

 a total amount of $4,000. 



Investigation of the water resources of the state seemed to the 

 Commissioners of the State Survey especially timely, in view of 

 the fact that most of the large towns of Connecticut have, in 

 recent years, been on the verge of suffering from water famine. 

 The consumption of water, both for domestic and manufacturing 

 purposes, is rapidly increasing with the growth of our population 

 and the increased development of manufactures. In addition to 

 other uses of water, it is evident that in the near future increased 

 attention must be given to the development of water power. The 

 exploitation of the national supply of coal is going on with in- 

 creasing rapidity, and in the consumption of coal we are using 

 not our income but our capital. The available supply of coal 



