THE IKKiQATION AGE. 



381 



This subject is attracting a great deal of attention 

 at the present time. The increasing scarcity and value 

 of water are compelling canal companies to take meas- 

 ures to stop some of the leaks. The losses due to 

 seepage in new canals in particular are often enor- 

 mously high. The other day a superintendent of a 

 canal in the Sacramento Valley turned in 125 cubic 

 feet per second of water and the volume available for 

 irrigation was only 40 cubic feet. Fourteen miles of 

 ditch had absorbed the balance. Another California 

 canal superintendent in writing to our office stated 

 that he had turned in 55 cubic feet through the head- 

 gate of a new lateral and only had a stream of five 

 cubic feet at the lower end. He wished to know what 

 kind of lining we would recommend. These, it is true, 

 are exceptional cases, but the large number of seepage 

 measurements which have been made in the West during 

 the past seven years under the supervision of El wood 

 Mead, of Washington, show quite conclusively the ex- 

 tent of this loss. It is on these more general results 

 that I have based my estimate of this loss in conveying 



one of the largest canals in the San Joaquin Valley 

 changed their water contracts from the old form which 

 allowed a specified amount per acre for the season with- 

 out measurement to one which called for a measured 

 volume per acre. Another irrigation district in Cali- 

 fornia which used over 600 cubic feet per second last 

 month is contemplating measuring each man's share 

 next year, not so much to save water as to prevent 

 excessive use and the removal of the surplus through 

 drainage canals and pumping plants. 



In the State of Washington, prior to 1903, the 

 Sunnyside Canal could not furnish water for more 

 than 25,000 acres. From 1903 to the present a com- 

 plete system of weirs has been in operation and each 

 man's share is measured. Last year the same canal 

 carrying the same volume of water that it did in 1903 

 watered 38,000 acres. 



An early and equitable settlement of claims to 

 water is another means of increasing the duty of water. 

 Existing claims to water may be grouped under three 

 heads: 1. Those which have been adjudicated in a 



Office of Wood River Times, Hailey, Idaho, with portrait of the Publisher, by whose 

 kindness we were permitted to show many, interesting pictures of Hailey and vicinity 

 in our September issue. 



water from the source to the irrigated fields. The 

 remedy for these high transmission losses is more im- 

 pervious channels. In improvements of this character 

 the first step to take is to ascertain the extent of the 

 loss of water and its value, and then to design and 

 carry out the improvements in such a way that the 

 investment will prove profitable. The uncertainty as 

 to the effectiveness of certain canal linings induced us 

 to conduct the series of experiments previously referred 

 to, the results of which it is hoped will be a guide to 

 good practice. 



I believe the duty of water might be considerably 

 increased by measuring each water user's share. The 

 usual practice of contracting for a nominal amount of 

 water per acre for the season and permitting either the 

 user or the water master to guess at the amount de- 

 livered is, to say the least, a slipshod way of selling 

 water and one which puts a premium on waste. Irri- 

 gation water in southern California is now delivered 

 for the most part in measured volumes at stated inter- 

 vals. No guess work would be tolerated. Last Julv 



satisfactory manner. 2. Those which have been de- 

 creed excessive amounts. 3. Those which have not 

 been judicially settled or even defined. Now it will 

 be generally conceded, I believe, that the first group 

 contains fewer claims than the second, and that the 

 third contains more than the first and second combined. 

 A decree which empowers a water user to divert more 

 water than he can economically use could not prove 

 otherwise than wasteful of water. So long, also, as 

 claims remain unsettled, so long will claimants make a 

 pretense of using more than they really need in order to 

 substantiate their claims for an ample supply. 



There are several other means of obtaining a high 

 duty of water whose importance is so generally recog- 

 nized that I shall do no more than to name them. 

 Some of these are, the skillful application of water, 

 thorough preparation of the soil, well made ditches and 

 an efficient system of distributing and delivering of 

 the amount of water to which each user is entitled. 



In conclusion, I can but refer briefly to some of 

 the practical methods that may be employed to check 



