Statement of the Problem 5 



Basic to an understanding of the elements involved in the devel- 

 opment of our streams is a clear perception of the nature and forms 

 of the development itself, the raw materials with which a develop- 

 ment program has to work, and the purposes to be met. 



Water is required directly for human consumption. It is used 

 indirectly when it enters agricultural produce as an element of 

 growth and maturation, or in processing foods and making bever- 

 ages. Water enters into many processes in the manufacture of 

 commodities which are employed as productive factors in a variety 

 of economic activities. 



But direct and indirect requirements for human consumption 

 do not exhaust the productive uses which the water resource may 

 serve. Historically, water has served as a low-resistance medium 

 on which to transport cargoes. It has served man as a means of 

 disposing wastes from towns and cities. It has served as a habitat 

 for wildlife on which man has fed and, more recently, hunted for 

 sport. Water has provided the setting, in many cases for gratifi- 

 cation of aesthetic and recreational needs. 



Water resources have also served as a form of mechanical power: 

 first, to liberate man from reliance on human and animal energy 

 in early industrialization; later, as an input in operation of 

 mechanical steam engines; and, finally, at the present stage of the 

 industrial arts, either as mechanical power or steam to move 

 turbines in the production of electricity. 



Water's influence on human life has not always been beneficial; 

 the uncontrolled river has potentialities of great destructive power. 

 Nature is impervious to the ephemeral needs of man. In her grand 

 design, the delicate balance— if indeed one is achieved — works out 

 majestically in units of time and distance which afford cold com- 

 fort to the tillers of the soil in alluvial deltas, and the tenders of 

 the shops on mainstreets in the flood plains, during the periods 

 of extended drought or destructive floods which make up the pat- 

 tern of the grand design. Even if nature had programmed her 

 activities to conform more nearly to the schedule required by 

 residents of flood plains, the water resources with which she had 

 endowed them would not have been in the form needed for bene- 

 ficial uses. This becomes apparent when we examine more closely 

 some of the physical elements of a river basin and its resources. 



Consider as a hypothetical example. Grand Basin, envisaged as 

 a large valley encompassing thousands of square miles and 



