WATER STORAGE ON SWEETWATER AND SAN JACINTO RIVERS. 359 



resulting from successive droughts. But with conditions as existing to-day, having 

 a reservoir of but 22,500 acre-feet capacity, the safe duty of the stream is probably 

 less than 3,000 acres, without having to resort to pumping an auxiliary supply during 

 dry seasons. 



To provide for the contingencies of drought and losses by evaporation in streams 

 of this class, judging soleh' from the record of thirteen years, it would appear to be 

 essential to provide 7.5 acre-feet of storage capacity' for each acre desired to be irri- 

 gated. Having such stoi"age provided, the area which maj' be irrigated from the 

 catchment of a given watershed is approximatel}- one-twelfth of the area of the water- 

 shed. These deductions maj' be modified with further experience, and would only 

 apph' to similar conditions of soil, climate, and character of run off. 



Sweetwater River is essentially a stream for storage utilization onlj-. It has 

 practically no living water, except at its extreme sources and for 10 or 20 miles down 

 from the summit of the range. From June to the following November or December 

 there is rarely any fiow into the Sweetwater Reservoir. For this reason there have 

 been practicallj' no attempts to utilize the normal summer flow for irrigation, except 

 in a very small way. 



CLAIMS TO THE WATER OF SWEETWATER RIVER. 



The uncertain character of the stream can very well be judged by an inspection of 

 the records of water claims filed in the county recorder's office at San Diego. The 

 following table gives an abstract of all the claims of record on the stream, giving the 

 essential points of each claim: 



