430 REPOET OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



the increase in homes, and robs the State and community of taxable 

 wealth. The laws of most Western States have recognized this and 

 prohibited the wasteful use of water, but without greater knowledge 

 the}^ can establish no standard by which to determine what is a waste- 

 ful use. 



The fact that the water supply is the source of all agricultural 

 values also emphasizes the need of an efficient system of public con- 

 trol. Some States have realized this need and have provided for it. 

 Colorado has 75 officials appointed by the governor, whose sole duty 

 is to see that the water supply is properly distributed. W} r oming has 

 a like system, with 48 officials engaged in guarding its water supply. 

 Nebraska also has a similar system. Utah and Idaho have also made 

 partial provision for accomplishing this result. In the other States, 

 where protection is afforded for every other kind of property, water is 

 left to be fought over in the field and in the courts, and even when contro- 

 versies are settled in this way for one year, the next season of drought 

 is almost certain to bring a renewal of the conflict. In the local- 

 ities where those using water from a stream can settle their rights 

 satisfactory to all concerned, there is nothing to prevent newcomers 

 from building other canals, establishing new rights, unsettling exist- 

 ing conditions, and in this way prolonging the anxiety, uncertainty, 

 and controvers} 7 indefinitely. 



There are other reasons for a prompt and comprehensive study of 

 water-right problems. In every arid State and Territory the acreage 

 of land under ditches already built is largely in excess of the land 

 now being cultivated. In Idaho there are about 1,600,000 acres of land 

 under existing ditches, of which only 600,000 are now being irrigated. 

 In Wyoming there are probably 2 acres under ditches for every acre 

 that is cultivated. Along the Arkansas River in Colorado and in 

 western Kansas, the same conditions prevail. The same is true of 

 the ditches in New Mexico. In the Salt River Valley, in Arizona, the 

 canal systems cover an area of 350,000 acres, of which less than 150,000 

 are being cultivated. In northern California many completed ditches 

 are only partly used and a few not used at all. The rights to water 

 in most of these States are based upon the estimated capacities of 

 the ditches, and when the lands for which these rights have been 

 acquired are actually brought under cultivation the present difficulties 

 experienced in the distribution of the supply will be greatly enhanced. 

 This makes necessary two things; (1) more effective administrative 

 provisions, and (2) a knowledge of the facts which ought to govern 

 these officials in the performance of their duties. In some of these 

 States the lack of cultivation of the lands under ditches is due to an 

 inadequate water supply. The streams on which they depend have 

 an abundance in the early part of the season, but this is followed by 

 a drought in July and August. Here the remedy will be found in 



