FUTURE NEEDS FOR DEVELOPMENT 235 



of further verification and there is a serious lack of understanding 

 of the significance of many phenomena. Improvement of this 

 situation can best be effectuated by a competently organized and 

 thoroughly coordinated long-range research program given con- 

 tinuity by adequate appropriations. Such an appropriation policy, 

 with provisions for a reasonable and necessary expansion of the 

 facilities, would very largely eliminate such duplication of effort 

 as now occurs as a result of a fluctuating financial support and 

 lack of continuity. 



In order to establish a long-range national policy with 

 respect to hydrologic data, Representative Murdock of Ari- 

 zona has recently submitted a bill to Congress, proposing "to 

 establish a comprehensive and adequate basic-data program in 

 water resources and provide for its maintenance in order that 

 the full potential of the nation's water resources may be 

 developed for all beneficial uses and that there may be ade- 

 quate hydrologic and geologic data for the effective control, 

 prevention, or reduction of the destructive powers of water." 



CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUND-WATER RESERVOIRS. For the ef- 

 fective utilization of a surface reservoir, an essential item is the 

 mapping of the reservoir and the preparation of capacity 

 tables, so that the quantity in storage can be determined from 

 measurements of the stage of the reservoir. Reservoir opera- 

 tion is generally dependent also upon continuing records of 

 the inflow T and outflow of the reservoir. Effective utilization of 

 a ground-water reservoir requires measurement of the same 

 items — the quantity in storage, the recharge, and the discharge 

 — plus an item of little significance in surface storage: the rate 

 of movement of water through the reservoir. The techniques 

 for these measurements are more complex, and the fundamen- 

 tal information needed to translate the basic data into volumes 

 of water is far more imposing than the requirements for a sur- 

 face reservoir. 



Delineation of the areal extent and thickness of the rock 

 materials of a ground-water reservoir is primarily a geologic 

 problem. The amount of water in those materials is dependent 

 upon the porosity; the permeability is a major factor in the 



