PROBLEMS FROM DEVELOPMENT 93 



Rapid development of ground-water resources, with ac- 

 companying land speculation and sudden influx of "set- 

 tlers" is likely to be of the "boom and bust" type, in sharp 

 contrast to orderly development seeking sustained perennial 

 use of available water supplies. Three areas have been the 

 scenes of greatly increased pumping as the result of post World 

 War II development: in the Pecos River Basin of Texas about 

 88,000 acres of land is now being irrigated from wells, and 

 pumpage probably exceeds 120,000 acre-feet a year; in the 

 southern part of Escalante Valley, Utah, about 40,000 acre- 

 feet was pumped in 1949; and in the Salt Flat Basin of Texas 

 and New Mexico pumpage in 1949 was about 33,000 acre-feet. 

 All these valleys have large quantities of water stored under- 

 ground, and in all three the annual replenishment is known 

 to be limited, but detailed studies have not been made to de- 

 termine the quantity. Water levels in wells have been declin- 

 ing slightly during the early stages of development, and it is 

 possible that pumpage already exceeds the average replenish- 

 ment in all three areas. Smaller postwar developments in the 

 Bluewater area and Animas and Playas Valleys in New Mexico 

 have also caused declining water levels. 



Escalante Valley, Utah. Zi There are thousands of acres of 

 arable land in Escalante Valley, of which about 10,000 acres 

 is irrigated in the vicinity of Milford, both by gravity diver- 

 sions from a reservoir on the Beaver River and by pumping 

 from a ground-water reservoir which is replenished largely 

 from the same stream. 



In the southern part of the valley also, between Beryl and 

 Enterprise, there are extensive areas of good land where 

 ground water is within easy pumping distance. Since World 

 War I, this area has been colonized by successive waves of 

 White Russians, Japanese, and Californians, but real 

 development did not begin until electric power lines 

 reached the area during World War II. Prior to 1943 the 



«* Reference: Fix, P. F., et al., Ground Water in Escalante Valley, Utah, 

 Utah State Engr. 27th Bienn. Rept., pp. 109-210, 1951. 



