60 CONSERVATION OF GROUND WATER 



with waters pumped today that have as much as 16,000 parts 

 per million. In one well the dissolved mineral content has in- 

 creased 10 times since 1927. Most of the water now pumped 

 is classified as "injurious to unsatisfactory" for irrigation. 

 The problems of excessive mineral content are most acute 

 in the Wellton-Mohawk area, but exist also in the Sentinel 

 and Gila Bend areas, which are upstream along the Gila 

 River. 



CORRECTIVE MEASURES TO REDUCE OVERDRAFT. The problems 



of reservoir depletion are not new in the history of ground- 

 water development. The drought years of the 1930's brought 

 dwindling yields from wells in many areas and convinced the 

 residents that their ground-water resources are not inexhausti- 

 ble. Long before that in some regions, there was earnest con- 

 sideration of the problem of dwindling resources, followed by 

 corrective measures which have in many instances halted fur- 

 ther depletion. 



The sternest method of halting depletion of a reservoir is 

 to reduce draft from wells without offering any substitute 

 water supplies, a procedure which can result only in driving 

 people out of the area. This would be nature's cure, if water 

 is pumped from storage until a ground-water reservoir is emp- 

 tied. No areas are known to have yet been affected by a mass 

 emigration that could be attributed entirely to failing ground- 

 water supplies, although many individual enterprises have 

 been abandoned because the "well has gone dry." 



Reduction in draft is the basis of corrective measures to halt 

 the overdraft from the small Raymond Basin, in which Pasa- 

 dena, Calif., is located. The decision reached in the case of 

 Pasadena v. Alhambra et al., following a long battle over water 

 rights, has resulted in an over-all reduction of about 30 per 

 cent in the draft on the ground-water reservoir. 17 However, 

 imports from the Colorado River provide water to the Los 

 Angeles region in quantities greater than current needs, and 



it Pasadena v. Alhambra (33 Cal. 2d 908, 207 Pac. 2d 17) 1949; certiorari 

 denied (339 U.S. 937) 1950. 



