Practical Information on Irrigation for 

 British Columbia Fruit Growers. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In proportion to the extent of agricultural land suitable for irrigation 

 in the arid or semi-arid part of British Columbia, the water supply avail- 

 able is probably more abundant than that of most of the arid regions of 

 the states of the United States, but it is also no doubt true that there are 

 many districts where the supply is either not sufficient or else not avail- 

 able at a reasonable cost to irrigate all agricultural soil which needs irri- 

 gation to make it productive. It is therefore important that the available 

 water supply be conserved and used with care and economy in order to 

 cover as much land as possible. This may be done by supplementing the 

 natural flow of the streams by storage reservoirs and by preventing the 

 waste of water. 



Measurements made in the United States show that on most irrigation 

 systems consisting mainly of unlined canals excavated in earth, the losses 

 in conveyance from the leaky ditches amounts to about 50 per cent, of the 

 water diverted from the source of supply, and of the remaining 50 per cent, 

 from one third to one half is lost by evaporation, percolation and other 

 wastes due largely to crude methods of irrigation. 



Storage reservoirs have been built on many of the streams to increase 

 the water supply. A few irrigation companies are lining their canals with 

 concrete, or using wooden flumes and pipes for their distributaries to stop 

 the conveyance losses of water. This practice will increase the water sup- 

 ply available for new lands, but there will still remain the waste which 

 occurs when water is applied to the land by a careless irrigator or one 

 who does not know the practice and methods of skilful and economical 

 irrigation. 



Irrigation in British Columbia with the exception of a few isolated 

 cases, is new and the methods of conveying water to the land and of apply- 

 ing it to the soil are in many cases crude and wasteful. The average 

 irrigator is not interested to the same extent as the irrigation company in 

 saving the water to use it on new land, especially if he pays for the water 

 at a fixed rate per acre and not for the quantity actually used, or if he has 

 an early water right which permits him to use and waste all he desires. 

 But there are other reasons why the irrigator or fruit grower should use 

 water skilfully and economically. First, because if water is valuable and 

 is sold according to the amount used, the elimination or decrease of waste 

 will decrease the water bill. Second, careless and wasteful use of water is 

 liable to cause water-logging of lands not properly drained. Third, it is 

 possible to use an excess of water which will interfere with plant growth 

 and affect the fruit. 



For these reasons the writer has attempted to put together information 

 which he hopes will be of value to the new settlers, present fruit growers 

 and to irrigation companies. The information is given under the fol- 

 lowing topics: 



1. Selection of an irrigated farm and laying out orchard. 



