THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



171 



IRRIGATION WATER FOR DOMESTIC USE 



May Be Stored in Reservoir or Natural Depression 



A valuable by-product of irrigation came to 

 light at a convention recently held at Lethbridge, 

 Alberta, to discuss ways and means of insuring 

 ample supplies of pure water on the farm, says a 

 bulletin of the Canadian Pacific. It was the opin- 

 ion of the convention that the introduction of irri- 

 gation into a community has a very direct effect 

 upon the volume of water available through wells 

 and springs. The bulletin says: "Countries of light 

 rainfall frequently have difficulties concerning do- 

 mestic water supply, and it seems that irrigation 

 solves not only the problem of moisture for the 

 crops but also of supplying water for domestic 

 purposes." 



The practice of storing irrigation water for 

 domestic use in cisterns or artificial ponds is no 

 new one. In a country like Southern Alberta, which, 

 not a desert, although it has a limited rainfall in 

 average years (the average rainfall at Lethbridge 

 is 17 inches per year) irrigation for the unlimited 

 supply of good water for live stock is an important 

 function. During the irrigation season (May to 

 October) the farmers' water problems are at an 

 end, although the solution may be so simple a mat- 

 ter as allowing water from a ditch to run into a de- 

 pression in his pasture land. 



The storing of water for winter use requires 

 some expenditure of time and labor, but, in an irri- 

 gation district, is a comparatively simple matter. 

 The water may be stored in a natural depression on 

 the farm ; a coulee or draw across which an earthen 

 dam has been thrown ; or it may be necessary to dig 

 a reservoir. "Avoid soil of a very porous nature ; be 

 sure the reservoir is sufficiently deep that it will 

 not freeze to the bottom ; and have it so located 

 that no drainage from contaminated sources will 

 enter," says the bulletin, and adds, "The construc- 

 tion of such a reservoir presents no difficulties too 

 great for the engineering skill of the average 

 farmer." 



The water from such a reservoir for household 

 purposes, should be filtered. The Lethbridge con- 

 vention discussed filtering rain water, and they 

 suggest that the same plan could be applied equally 

 to irrigation water. The plant consists of a sand 

 and gravel filter and a concrete tank for storage pur- 

 poses, and is recommended as affording a per- 

 manent solution of the domestic water question on 

 farms where water is not easily obtained from under- 

 ground sources. 



The most interesting phase of the effect of 

 irrigation on domestic water supply, however, is 

 that to which reference has been made the in- 

 crease in water available from wells. According 

 to F. H. Peters, of the Commission of Irrigation for 

 the Dominion Government, one-sixth of the water 

 turned into irrigation canals is lost through seep- 

 age, but this enormous loss of water contributes 

 greatly to the water available from wells. He says : 

 "As the irrigation development of the country con- 



tinues the results will be still more noticeable. 

 Eventually the Lethbridge-Northern project, the 

 St. Mary's-Milk River project, and the Canadian 

 Pacific-Lethbridge project will water 520,000 acres. 

 This does not include the main Canadian Pacific 

 project, which embraces about 3,000,000 acres. 

 These projects will greatly influence the future sup- 

 ply of water for domestic purposes over these 

 areas." 



MILK RIVER PROJECT 



By an engineering feat of the Reclamation Ser- 

 vice the St. Mary River, which formerly belonged 

 to Hudson Bay drainage, has become a contributor 

 to the drainage of the Atlantic Ocean. 



St. Mary River, a stream of large flow, rises in 

 the snows and glaciers of the highest peaks of 

 Glacier National Park. Its general course in United 

 States is northward to the international boundary. 

 In Canada it joined a number of other streams and 

 finally emptied into Hudson Bay. 



Today the St. Mary is diverted into a large 

 canal twenty-eight miles long, and now flows into 

 the North Fork of Milk River, a tributary of the 

 Missouri. The Milk River, rising in the plains area 

 of Northwestern Montana, flows northward into 

 Canada, and then eastward for more than 100 miles 

 drains dominion territory. It then turns abruptly 

 southward across the boundary and, after flowing 

 for many miles through a rich and fertile valley, 

 joins the Missouri near Nashua, Mont. Draining 

 no high mountains, its flow is erratic, uncertain, 

 and entirely inadequate for the irrigation of the 

 hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile lands 

 through which it flowed in both countries. By com- 

 bining the two rivers an enormous area of irrigable 

 lands could be developed, and it was for this pur- 

 pose the engineers of the Service worked out a 

 plan, the successful completion of which is just 

 announced. 



For the reason that the lands in Canada could 

 absorb the entire flow of both streams, an inter- 

 national treaty was entered into by which the Milk 

 River in Canada was utilized as d carrier, and the 

 combined flow of both streams equally divided be- 

 tween the two nations. 



In the lower Milk River Valley important dams 

 and reservoirs have been completed and a compre- 

 hensive canal system is now serving a considerable 

 acreage. In its entirety the project will irrigate 

 220,000 acres, of which 29,900 are public lands to 

 be opened to entry upon completion of necessary 

 works. 



The irrigable areas are served by the Great 

 Northern Railway and surround the growing towns 

 of Chinook, Harlem, Dodson, Malta, Saco, Hins- 

 dale, and Glasgow. 



The net investment of the Government to June 

 30, 1916, was about $4,700,000. 



