LOSSES FROM CANALS BY SEEPAGE. 
33 
tageous to combine two ditches, by this means saving not 
only the loss of water, but saving superintendence and main- 
tenance charges. With increased confidence in the accu- 
racy of water measurement, reluctance to such consolida- 
tions should lessen. 
17. The depth of losses from laterals is probably 
greater than in the main ditches. The laterals are less per- 
manent, are steeper, have less silt, and are more poorly 
cared for. 
18. There must be some arrangement of ditches and 
laterals which is the most economical for given conditions, 
so that the aggregate of the losses of the whole system will 
be a minimum. Certainly the location and arrangement of 
the laterals for carrying water from the main ditch is worthy 
of consideration by the management of the main canal and 
the importance increases with the size of the canal and the 
width of the strip it serves. 
19. It is not to be understood that the whole of the 
loss from the ditches is lost to the public wealth of the State. 
Some, perhaps much, of the loss, may re-appear as seepage 
in lower ditches or in the main stream and again be used. 
It is, however, lost to the particular ditch and incidentally is 
destructive to much land. With all practicable methods of 
prevention, there will still be abundant loss. It should be to 
the advantage of the individual ditch to prevent such loss 
as far as practicable. 
20. A general statement of the total amount of loss of 
water must be made and accepted with reservation. It 
would appear that in the main canals from 15 per cent, to 40 
per cent is lost, and in the laterals as much more. It would 
thus appear that not much over one-half, certainly not over 
two-thirds of the water taken from the stream, reaches the 
fields. In the most favorable aspect, the loss is great, and 
is relatively greatest when the loss can be least afforded, 
viz.: when the water is low and the ditches are running 
with reduced heads. 
21. There are some 2,000,000 acres of land irrigated in 
Colorado and the value of the water rights at a low esti- 
mate is as much as $30,000,000. (The census estimates the 
water rights as worth $28.46 per acre.) On this basis, the 
capital value of the water lost by seepage in the canals and 
ditches may be put at from six to ten millions of dollars. 
From the evidence at hand at present this seems a low es- 
timate. 
