WATER 125 



common good, the state engineer is given the power to enforce 

 the regulations of the district. 



Kansas approaches the underground water system in an' 

 other way. Underground water can be restored if basins are 

 built to catch rain water and let it filter to the underground 

 reservoir. Also, this rain water will be available for irrigation 

 and to water stock. To every farm on which a certain amount 

 of rain water is retained, the State of Kansas returns $40 of 

 the state tax. 14 The main purpose of the Kansas law is to pro 

 mote the saving of water for irrigation and stock. An added 

 effect of this tax law, however, is to add to the ground water 

 supply. 



To aid the conservation of water in this region, the Soil 

 Conservation Service has established demonstration areas to 

 show methods of saving rain water by absorbing it instead of 

 letting it all run into streams. This makes the flow of streams 

 more even through the year and protects the underground 

 reservoirs. 



The latest federal aid to water conservation in the West is 

 the Water Facilities Program. In the words of Congress, this 

 program is "to assist in providing facilities for water storage 

 and utilisation in the arid and semi-arid areas of the United 

 States." Like the headwaters Flood Control Act, the federal 

 Water Facilities Program is under the administration of the 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Two existing bureaus in the Department of Agriculture, the 

 Soil Conservation Service and the Farm Security Administra 

 tion, were assigned to the job of carrying out this task. The 

 Department of Agriculture was given $5,000,000 with which 

 to develop the water facilities program, and an additional 

 $5,000,000 was used in 1938 to rehabilitate farmers in arid 

 areas. This rehabilitation took the form of improving the 

 farmers" water facilities by helping him with loans, labor, and 



"National Resources Board Report, op. cit., p. 270. 



