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Show Aggressive Water Program Required lor Utah Growth By Joseph H. Weston The population and industries of Utah could be more than doubled in a decade, if adequate use were made of water and fertility fer-tility that are now being wasted. In such a progam, the state government must take the lead. No other body politic has the necessary power to finance and coordinate such complicated programming pro-gramming and construction as would be required. Here are some of the factors: Our antiquated irrigation systems, sys-tems, throughout the state, are losing a lot of good water annually an-nually through leakage of worn-out worn-out and weed-infested ditches. These systems, established many years ago under purely local conditions, con-ditions, are nearly all dependent upon the gravity flow of water, with the result that literally millions mil-lions of acres of wonderful agricultural agri-cultural land lie "above the ditch" and cannot be reached with life giving water. (These irrigation systems should, for the most part, be put into underground under-ground pipes, and water made to flow uphill, under pressure. Such an accomplishment would revolutionize revo-lutionize Utah agriculture.) The legal and financial aspects of many of our irigation system have got all out of kelter with the march of progress. For more than a century, water rights, as separate from, but often attached to, land rights, have been very jealously guarded. In some cases such water rights have been hoarded to the detriment of the community. (It would se so much simpler if all-comers could simply cut into a metered water system and pay for what water they use, at low agricultural rates, of course). Open irrigation ditches, partly enclosed by culverts and bridges are a source of tragedy in the appalling number of deaths each summer when small children fall into them. Hydraulic engineers are now telling us that a big section of the Great Salt Lake can be diked off and used as a storage place demands of southern California for fresh water from the Colorado Colo-rado river basins, and eventually would free this water for greater application in the mountain ! states, including Utah. Then perhaps, per-haps, we could pipe fresh water into the eastern part of our state and bring life and hope to such communities as Gunnison, Richfield, Rich-field, Moroni, Manti and Monroe. The Utah legislature should lose no time, once it convenes again, to memorialize the federal government gov-ernment to speed up salt-water conversion and our delegation to Washington should never lose sight of this project, no matter what comes or goes. Most of our households use more water than is necessary, and the state should take the lead in teaching water conservation conser-vation practices in the home. For instance, most toilet tanks actually use twice as much water as they require for efficient effi-cient operation. The legislature could set a date, beyond which i no toilet tanks above a certain capacity, established by competent compe-tent engineers, would be permitted per-mitted in the state. This item alone, as small, and maybe even j as silly, as it seems, could save 1 up to 25 per cent of the water now being used or wasted in Utah homes. Therefore, silly as it seems, it could increase by 25 per cent the total population that our water supply could support. I The state government should take the lead, and step out with 1 an over all study of water conservation con-servation practices and malpractices mal-practices in the state, and when that study is completed, should come up with a definite set of water regulations affecting the entire state, and get them enacted enact-ed into law. So far, our state government has never taken such a role in our life. We have rocked along from day to day, reacting to each individual water problem that presents itself, and often reacting negatively at that, and letting the overall picture go to pieces. for fresh water. This project should take immediate priority in state planning, and should be constructed at once. There should not even be a day of delay. Water is gold, and life, for Utah. The state's three largest cities, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Pro-vo, Pro-vo, all have ancient sewage outfall out-fall systems, with the result that huge quantities of fresh water and soil fertilty are wasted every day. Many progressive municipalities munici-palities throughout the world have developed methods of reclaiming re-claiming both the water and the sludge from sewage systems for the improvement of their agriculture agri-culture and industry. j We in Utah, who have such a limited original supply of water, should have been among the first in the world to do such a thing, but we remain wasteful and needless to this day. Here, again, it is only the power of the state government that could organize an effective program of water and fertility conservation, in cooperation with the cities. I The water situation in Utah could be helped by the fruition of plans of the federal government govern-ment to convert seawater into fresh water on the Pacific coast. Such conversion of seawater, if conducted on a large enough scale, would serve to lessen the |