6 
month. Consequently, the basis of his purchase of water must be a 
duty which will cover his needs in the month of greatest use. Thus 
it is, that in the same valley one method of determining the duty 
will give nearly 200 acres per cubic foot per second, while the basis 
for the sale of water rights is 55 acres per second foot, or 1.44 second- 
feet per 80 acres. It is because of not considering this feature of 
Colorado distribution that many in, as well as out, of the State have 
not understood the discrepancy. 
The variations of duty reported from different communities or 
different countries may thus be due to different ways of estimating 
it, as well as from the difference according to the place where water 
is measured. 
The duty will be different according as we consider the individ¬ 
ual farmer, the canal company, or a whole valley. The methods of 
irrigation and of distribution are such that almost of necessity the 
individual draws more water than his land needs, in order to secure 
quick irrigation, and thus there is a surplus which runs away. To 
the individual this is waste. 
The canal company is interested in knowing what the duty of 
the water is as measured at the headgateof the canal. The water is 
measured to the canal by the Water Commissioner, and the duty as 
based upon the water measured at the headgate would be less than 
the average duty of the individual by the losses of evaporation and 
seepage in the transit, and increased by the gain there may be in 
the average of a number of farmers. Where the canal is of some 
size, so that there are several users from one lateral, the water lost 
by one may be utilized by another, so that the canal gains in duty 
over the individual. 
To the people of a whole valley the duty may be still different. 
The valley has a stream of water of certain size, and to the public it 
is desirable to know how much this water will serve. Besides the 
losses in carriage in the canals, this is subject to the additional 
losses'of transportation in the stream. On the other hand, many 
losses to the individual are not such to the community. The water 
which sinks into the soil from seepage from the canals and the later¬ 
als, and from the sinking from the irrigation, may reappear again in 
the stream or in the depressions feeding the stream, and be used 
again by the canals in the community. In the case of the Cache-a- 
la-Poudre River this total return is nearly one-third of all the water 
which comes from the canon. Besides, the water wasted by the in¬ 
dividual may be caught by another ditch and used again. The re¬ 
sult is that the duty of a whole community ought to average higher 
than that of the individual, and measurement bears out the antici¬ 
pation. 
Where the wastes and losses of the individual farmer may be 
saved by others and used over again, we may then be led to the 
conclusion that the excessive use of water by the individual is not 
necessarily in conflict with a high duty in the community as a 
