LAND DRAINAGE BY MEANS OF PUMPS. 53 
Table 17. — Amounts pumped and unit costs oj pumping. 
District. 
Year. 
Amount 
pumped. 
Average 
static 
head. 
Cost oi lift- 
ing 1 acre- 
foot 1 foot. 
1910' 
1911 
1912 
1913 
1914 
1914 
Acre-feet. 
15, 900 
15, 000 
20, 132 
16, 002 ' 
6,800 
901 
Feet. 
4.20 
2.82 
5.20 
5.74 
9.40 
7.02 
$0. 086 
Do 
.141 
Do 
.064 
Do 
.063 
Coal Creek 
.110 
.158 
Table 18. — Probable costs oj pumping with typical pumping plants. 
District. 
Cost of 
lifting 1 
acre-foot of 
water 1 
foot. 
Cost of 
lifting 1.25 
acre-feet 
1 foot. 
Cost of lifting 1.25 
acre-feet — 
Fixed 
charges. 
Total cost of pump- 
ing per acre per 
year. 
5 feet. 
10 feet. 
Lift 
5 feet. 
Lift • 
10 feet. 
$0,063 
.110 
.158 
$0. 079 
.137 
.198 
$0,395 
.685 
.99 
$0.79 
1.37 
1.98 
$0,406 
.35 
.877 
$0,801 
1.035 
1.867 
$1. 196 
1.72 
2.847 
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE. 
It has long been recognized that in the construction of drainage 
improvements the services of men who make the planning and the 
supervision of such work a specialty is a business necessity. State 
drainage laws require that such men be employed on districts organ- 
ized under the law. It is to be regretted that such laws do not also 
provide for engineering supervision of the operation of the pumping 
plant and in the maintenance of all the drainage improvements. 
The successful and economical operation of the pumping plant and 
the proper maintenance of the plant and the other drainage improve- 
ments require the careful and constant attention of those who are 
especially fitted by training and experience to do such work. On 
many districts examined the operating expenses of the pumping 
plant were unnecessarily large, the drainage improvements were 
rapidly deteriorating, and large damage had occurred from the 
partial or complete failure of some of the improvements. Such 
districts did not have proper supervision. 
The present system of having a number of commissioners responsi- 
ble for the administration of the affairs of the districts is wrong. 
Much is lost by this division of authority, and responsibility for any 
feature of the administration is hard to fix. Someone should be 
hired by the district to have full charge of the administration of the 
district business, and he should be made entirely responsible for the 
success of such administration. As an example of the divided 
authority, the records of one of the districts on the Illinois River 
showed that in the building of a house for the storage of coal at the 
