Measurement and Division oe Water. 7 
expense to obtain accurate measurements, will increase. Companies 
will go to much greater expense for this particular purpose than they 
now consider justifiable. It is true that the present practice is gen¬ 
erally behind what could reasonably be expected from present con¬ 
ditions. 
Even now in .the exchange between reservoirs in northern 
Colorado, the companies have found it justifiable to employ a skilled 
person for that particular work, at considerable expense. The 
statement made in the first edition may be repeated: 
“There will never be an easier time for arranging satis¬ 
factory measurements than now; for the demand will not be 
less, and with time and the increase in the value of water,, 
there will be many who will feel that they have rights vested 
in certain methods of measurements which may be intrinsically 
unjust.” 
For many years I have had occasion to pass over the ditches 
in Colorado in detail. This was generally in company with the 
ditch rider or superintendent. Thousands of miles were thus trav¬ 
ersed. In so doing, I made the methods of distribution the subject 
of special observation and inquiry. In general, it was found that 
the methods were exceedingly unreliable. There has been a great 
improvement both in the methods and in the qualifications of the 
ditch riders, yet the same statement may still be made. In many 
canals the measurement depends on the eye and judgment of the 
ditch rider. In others, the measurement is nominal and really worse 
than none, because it gives a false idea of accuracy, and, so long 
as it prevails, it stands in the way of the introduction of a better 
system. 
This bulletin was originally prepared because of the need then 
observed, of greater knowledge of methods of measuremnt, and 
was based upon the study of the devices as they existed, and of the 
methods used in other states and other countries. There is a chance 
for great improvement. I have found discrepancies amounting 
to as much as 400%. No method should be considered meeting 
the conditions of today unless it is correct within 5% or 10%. The 
practice is not often so accurate as this, and yet it is not difficult 
to bring it within 5%. Increase in accuracy means more pains 
and therefore more expense, but with the value of water, more ex¬ 
pensive methods are justifiable and precautions can be taken which 
would have been out of consideration in times past. 
On this subject, as well as on others in the line of irrigation, 
the experience of Italy is suggestive, even if it cannot always be 
taken as an example. Their physical conditions have much that is 
similar to ours. Our development has followed hers, though we 
have condensed her growth of six centuries into fifty years. The 
physical laws governing the flow of water, the principles involved 
