UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 913 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Public Roads 

 THOS. H. MACDONALD, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



September 21, 1920 



THE WESTERN FARMER'S WATER RIGHT. 



By R. P. Teele, Irrigation Economist., 



CONTENTS. 



What a water right is 



General characteristics of water rights- 

 Acquirement of rights 



Evidences of title to rights to water 

 from streams 



Page. 

 1 



Rights to underground waters. 

 Rights to water from canals-. 

 Distribution of water 



Page. 



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 13 



WHAT A WATER RIGHT IS. 



In the western part of the United States the rainfall is insufficient 

 to supply the moisture needs of growing crops, and it is necessary to 

 make up the deficiency by irrigation. The water used for irrigation 

 comes principally from streams, but in part from other sources. 

 There is not sufficient water in these sources to supply all the de- 

 mands, and consequently some land is supplied with water while 

 other land must go without. In order that arid land shall be cul- 

 tivated, the farmers of that land must have assurance that they may 

 continue to use water in the future, for without such assurance no 

 one would engage in agriculture in arid regions on account of its 

 uncertainty. Under these conditions there has grown up in the West 

 a system of laws and customs controlling the use of water, under 

 which a farmer secures a " water right," which assures, in greater 

 or less degree, his future water supply. Without such a right arid 

 land has very little value, while with a right such land has higher 

 value than much of the land in the humid parts of the country. 



It is probable that there is no more complicated subject in the 

 whole field of property rights than water rights, yet the practical 

 working of the system is comparatively simple and easily under- 

 stood. It is believed that a general understanding of the subject is 

 within the reach of all and will be of great value to every farmer in 



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