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Show The National Enterprise, August 24, 1977 Page five Drought cuts harvest of wheat , beans , sugar beets Effects of drought were becoming more evident in rural areas of Utah as irrigation water supplies dwindled, according to the Utah Crop and Livestock Reporting Service, USDA. Where widely scattered afternoon and evening thundershowers were received, soil moisture in the upper few inches improved slightly but serious soil moisture deficits existed on all lower elevation rangelands. Farmers made good progress in harvesting small grains and hay, though some delays were caused by spotty rains. By the end of August, d small grain harvest vas done. to one-haWinter wheat was expected to total 4,140,000 bushels, down 21 percent from a year ago. Spring wheat production was forecast at 936.000 bushels, down nearly a third from last years crop. Barley production on May 1 was forecast at 7,000,000 one-thir- lf bushels-sligh- tly improved over the July 1 forecast and 1 percent more than was produced in 1976. Sugar beet production was estimated at 173.000 tons, down almost half from last year, reflecting the lowest acreage ever planted in Utah. Dry bean production was expected to drop to 1,200 cwt. or less because of severe drought conditions existing in the area where The 1976 crop amounted to 51,000 cwt. Second crop alfalfa hay was half grown. harvested-tot- al production this year was expected to be 1,365,000 tons, about three tons per acre and reflects a tremendous first crop this year. Last year production was about 3.5 tons per acre and totaled 1,610,000 tons. Nonirrigated Range and Pasture: The August 1 range and pasture feed condition was rated at 53 percent of normal-virtua- lly unchanged from last month and should continue at a record low in August. Scattered showers in the higher elevations improved soil moisture in the upper few inches of soil. But subsoil moisture remained short. Stock water remained a serious problem. Production: Milk production during July totaled 81 million pounds, down four percent from a year earlier. Average milk production per cow was 1,040 pounds during July compared with 1,060 last Milk year. Business Inventories increased in June by .7 percent, the Commerce De- partment said. Many ana- lysts attribute the increase to decreased sales rather than an intentional investment on the part of manufacturing and trade Feds could force Utah water revisions Curtailment of the Bon- neville Unit of the Central Utah Project, as has been threatened by the President, would require drastic altere ation in Utahs water planning, and would be based on misunderstanding of the factors involved, aclong-rang- cording to Utah Foundation, the private, public service agency. If the full Bonneville Unit is not constructed, there appears to be no w ay for Utah to make optimum use of its legal entitlement to water from the Colorado River System, the Foundation notes in a research report released this week. Most of the water for the river system falls on the high mountain watersheds of Utah and of the other Upper Colorado Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, and non-prof- it Wyoming. Opposition to the Bonneville Unit is largely directed at the reportedly low benefit-cos- t ratio of the portion of the project that would bring water from the Uintah Basin into the Bonneville Basin west of the Wasatch Mountain range. Most of this water would initially be turned south into Utah and Juab Counties and into the Sevier Basin for irrigation purposes. "The water to be brought in from the Uintah Basin has a far greater potential value than at first appears, making ratio which the low benefit-cos- t has a far greater potential value than has been assigned to this part of the project, the Foundation notes. "From the beginning. Central Utah Project planners have emphasized this water would initially be used for irrigation, but could later be expected to pass to higher-priorit- y (culinary and industrial) uses by simple operation of the laws of economics." Average price for irrigation water in central Utah is $4 to $7 per acre-foowhile water for culinary and industrial uses bring it up to $100 per acre foot, a price which would change the benefit-cos- t ratio of the trans-basi- n diversion unit of the Bonneville Unit substantially. t, Utahs illustrated not only the value of water itself, but the importance of water storage and transportation systems, the Foundation points out. Areas without storage facilities have suffered severely in the 1977 drought, and in some places the emergency was compounded by lack of transportation systems to carry the water to consumers. While all of Utah falls into a generally dry climatic classification, there is considerable variation from season to season, from year to year, and from one geographical area to another. Average precipitation at the north end of Utah Lake, for example, is h that reless than corded at Brighton, some 20 airline miles away. Precipitation at the Salt Lake Airport averages 15.5 inches a year , but fell to less than nine inches in 1966, then rose to more than 21 inches just two years later, in 1968. In the dry summer of 1977, conditions varied around the state, precipitation averaging 59 percent of normal for the state as a whole, but ranging from 41 percent of normal in southeastern Utah to 83 percent of normal for the western climatological region. Figures are for the water year beginning October 1, 1976 through June one-fort- long-rang- water e plan encompasses much more than the Central Utah Project, although CUP is the largest single factor in the plan, the Foundation report notes. Such things as increased use of underground water, reduction in evaporation losses, generally increased efficiency in water use, and cloud seeding where feasible are all taken into account. The State Water Plan was launched as a result of the drought threat of 1961 and has been developed and kept current by the Utah Division of Water Resources. The critical drought faced by Utah and much of the area west of the Continental Divide in the summer of 1977 is the immediate and obvious outcome of the unusually dry winter of 1976-7the Foundation report notes. "In a broader sense, however, the current situation is only an intensified manifestation of the never-endin- g problem of wrater scarcity 7, faced by this region. The 1977 semi-ari- d 30, 1977. If, as is fervently hoped, the coming winter provides normal or abovenormal precipitation, the 1977 experience will still stand as a valuable lesson for state planthe Foundation reners, ports. "If, however, it should prove to be the beginning of a prolonged dry cycle a distinct possibility on the basis of past records--thi- s drought has or even disastrous.. Mortgages decline second month running The value and number of million. Total number of warranty deeds recorded in Salt Lake County for July was reported at 2,679 versus 2,981 for the previous month and 1 ,958 for the month of July 1976. The average conventional mortgage rose to $39,337 in July from Junes $37,309 and from the year ago figure of $32,432. mortgages recorded in July for the Salt Lake area dropped slightly for the second con- secutive month, according to figures released by the Security Title Company. In July, the total value of mortgages in Salt Lake area came to $142.6 million, off from Junes$145.2 million, but still higher than the year ago July figure of $84 Read, Compete Read, Compete year's problem could become critical Reading the Enterprise helps me to be competitive in the marketplace, especially the local business items and mortgage rates. Allan Murdock President, Rocky Mountain State Bank Be competitive. $24 annual subscription. THE NATIONAL Enterprise P.O. BOX 11778, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84147 533-055- 6 |