May 16, 1921 
Quality of Irrigation Water 
275 
western United States. In this table the chief bases are shown in col¬ 
umns 2, 3, and 4, stated in milligrams per liter. In the last column is 
given the calcium-sodium ratio for each stream. It will be noted that 
only one of the streams reported in Table V shows as high a proportion 
of calcium as the Nile, and none is as high as the average reported for 
the 19 great rivers of the earth. 
In the absence of accurate data as to the extent and seriousness of 
the “hard” lands in the areas irrigated by these streams it is not pos¬ 
sible to determine the correlation between the quality of the water and 
the condition of the land. It may be noted, however, that the land 
irrigated by the Belle Fourche and North Platte Rivers is notably free 
from difficulties as to impermeability though the soil at Belle Fourche 
particularly is very rich in clay. On the other hand, the land irrigated 
from the Salt and Gila Rivers in Arizona and that irrigated from the 
Truckee and Carson Rivers in Nevada is notably subject to difficulties of 
impermeability. 
Table V. —Analyses of IQ important irrigation streams in the western United States, 
showing quantities of calcium, magnesium, and sodium plus three-fourths of the potas¬ 
sium, and the proportion of the sum of the calcium and magnesium to the sum of the 
sodium plus three-fourths the potassium 1 
Stream and station. 
Mil 
Calcium. 
ligrams per 1 
Magne¬ 
sium. 
iter. 
Sodium 
plus three- 
fourths of 
the potas¬ 
sium. 
Proportion of 
the sum of the 
calcium and 
magnesium to 
the sum of the 
sodium plus 
three-fourths 
the potassium. 
Belle Fourche, Belle Fourche, S. Dak. . . 
130 
37 
57 
75 '• 2 S 
Big Horn, Fort Custer, Mont. 
63 
21 
44 
66 : 34 
Boise, Boise, Idaho. 
18 
4 
16 
58 : 42 
Carson, Hazen, Nev. 
* 32 
8.6 
30 
57 : 43 
Colorado, Yuma, Ariz. 
92 
23 
no 
5 1 : 49 
Gila, San Carlos, Ariz. 
8l 
22 
I 5 ° 
4 i : 59 
Grand, Palisade, Colo. 
62 
17 
66 
55 : 45 
Green, Jensen, Utah. 
55 
17 
45 
6 3 : 37 
Link, Klamath Falls, Oreg. \. 
12 
6 
21 
46 : 54 
Little Colorado, Woodruff, Ariz. 
68 
17 
no 
44 : 56 
Milk, Havre, Mont. 
47 
29 
120 
39 : 61 
North Platte, Fort Laramie, Wyo. 
69 
18 
40 
68 : 32 
Pecos, Dayton, N. Mex... 
440 
100 
400 
57 : 43 
Rio Grande, El Paso, Tex. 
100 
18 
no 
52 : 48 
Sacramento, Red Bluff, Calif. 
16 
7-4 
16 
59 : 4 i 
Salt, Roosevelt, Ariz. 
59 
18 
no 
4 i * 59 
Shoshone, Cody, Wyo... 
2 3 
6. 7 
29 
5 i : 49 
Truckee, Derby, Nev. 
20 
6. 9 
29 
48 : 52 
Yellowstone, Billings, Mont. 
39 
11 
36 
58 : 42 
1 Stabler, Herman, some stream waters of the western united states. . . U. S. Geol. Survey, 
Water-Supply Paper 274, 188 p. 1911. 
In discussing his methods of analysis, Stabler says: “ The figure representing sodium and potassium 
together was obtained by calculating the weight of their combined chlorides to sodium. The result is in 
reality the amount of sodium plus three-fourths the potassium, and is so reported in the tables. M 
In view of the fact that the potassium content of most of these waters is low, the difference between this 
figure and the actual sum of sodium and potassium is probably not great. 
