6 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
earliest times and will continue to be so. The need is increasingly 
exacting, for the pressure for water progressively increases. 
The prevention of waste is a matter of public importance. The 
land suitable for irrigation so much exceeds the water supply, not 
only in Colorado but throughout the West, that the agricultural 
development depends on the use of the supply to its fullest capacity. 
Though the building of storage reservoirs, the stopping of waste, 
improved methods of irrigation which were all recommended in 
Bulletin 13, (1890), have been carried out to a great extent and 
the agricultural products, if not the agricultural area, has greatly 
increased, and much improvement in measurement has come, the 
pressure remains about the same. A larger saving will be effected 
in the future as it is found that less quantities of water are needed; 
subdivision into smaller and smaller streams becomes necessary and 
measurement will become more exact, and it will be justifiable to 
expend larger sums for exact devices. 
Aside from the accuracy, a good system of measurement saves 
a large amount of water. A careful account is known to be the 
basis of sound finance. An accounting, in itself, produces economy 
for it causes an arrest of thought, and directs attention to the 
matters under consideration, and reveals the source of waste. It 
is also true in water administration. The very fact that water is 
measured checks extravagance. If it be not measured the idea 
is easily fostered that it is not valuable enough. The mere fact 
that measurement is made and an account kept, makes each user 
more careful. In ditches where no attempt has been made to con¬ 
trol the use by individuals, it is surprising to notice the saving 
caused by keeping an account and thus showing how much each 
has used and to compare one with another. In cities it is well 
known that the mere installation of water meters and keeping 
account of the water used by each individual, often reduces the 
consumption to one-third what it was before, and yet no one has 
suffered. When water is plentiful, a system, or lack of system, 
works without trouble. The practice then is to give water enough 
to stop complaint. When the water becomes scarce, then inexact¬ 
ness in measurement means that someone gets more than his share. 
This means that some one else gets less; and the result may be 
serious upon the crops. 
In all parts of the State where the pressure for water is felt, 
there has been a great increase in the value of land, and this is 
almost entirely from the increase in the value of water. Reser¬ 
voirs have been built at an expense of millions of dollars to take 
advantage of streams of water that a few years since were con¬ 
sidered to be insignificant. This increase in the value of water has 
only begun, and therefore the conditions which justify pains and 
