190 CLASSIFICATION O*' THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



CLASSIFICATION AS REGARDS DOMESTIC USE. 

 GENERAL, PRINCIPLES. 



The problem of domestic water supply in an arid region is closely 

 associated with the agricultural development of the region. In the 

 broadest meaning of the term the use of water for domestic purposes 

 includes not only its use in the household but by farm animals, by 

 cattle on the range, and by the prospector in the desert wastes. 



Permanent agricultural settlement depends on the presence of a 

 water supply suitable for household purposes and for farm use. 

 Under homestead laws requiring as their fundamental conditions 

 both residence and cultivation, the extension of settlement to new 

 areas is possible only where the prospective homesteader finds water 

 within a reasonable distance of his chosen location. Where water 

 suitable for such use does not exist on the surface the homesteader 

 must resort to wells; failing there, he must haul water. The labor 

 and therefore the expense of hauling water are great. Uncleanliness 

 and insanitation are almost enforced by the resulting economy of use. 

 The conditions of water storage on the homestead do not usually tend 

 to insure purity and frequently cause disease. The possibility of 

 procuring a domestic water supply from wells in regions where 

 surface waters are impure or altogether absent is thus a question of 

 great importance. 



In areas where the underground water resources are unexplored 

 geologic investigation may determine the more favorable localities 

 for putting down test wells, and in regions where the position of 

 the water table is not known or is known but imperfectly the applica- 

 tion of principles well known to the geologist may be of great assist- 

 ance to the farmer and the well driller in forecasting the possibili- 

 ties. To this end large areas in the arid region Have been geologically 

 investigated. The data relative to underground waters have been 

 compiled and maps prepared, not only showing the position of the 

 water table in proved areas but indicating the probable location of 

 the water table in adjacent unexplored areas. The data thus obtained 

 by the Geological Survey, many of them in cooperation with the 

 States, are published and widely distributed in water-supply and pro- 

 fessional papers. 



FARM WATER SUPPLY. 



A modification of the homestead laws to relieve the entryman of 

 the necessity of residence on lands where a domestic water supply is 

 not available and can not be obtained is operative in Idaho and Utah 

 under the enlarged-homestead acts, whose provisions have been men- 

 tioned. The provision in these acts relating to domestic water supply 



