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Show A immk ntruill Regarding the Irrigation Interests Inter-ests of tha West End. As Submitted to the City by I Deputy Watermaster Walter Scott. Suggestions made in Regard to the Sanitary Effect of Artesian Wells. The report of Deputv Watermaster i U alter Scott, of the West Irrigation District of Provo City, for the year ending December 31, 1S90, recently submitted to Watermaster T. E. Thur-man, Thur-man, contains considerable interesting interest-ing material. The report is made out in accordance with the ordinances of Provo City on the subject. Mr. Saott says: have nambered all irrigating ditches in the district over whicl the city has control, as follows: All ditches are desiguatfd by the name of the street upon which they are located. lo-cated. Those located on the south and west sides of said street are designated des-ignated as number one, those located on the north and east side as number two. Example: "Ditch 2so. 1 on A street, and ditch Xo. 2 on A street." I have issued certificates to each person per-son entitled to the use of water, and recorded the same: and while doing this I have found that there exists a great inequality in the tax assessed on city lots and land. I find also that nearly all the land adjoining the city lots require as much water and as often of-ten as city lots do, while the land is only 'assessed one fourth the amount of tax that the lots are. Wherefore, I would recommend that the tax assessed as-sessed on each acre of land be equal to that assessed on each lot. The machinery run by water power in the district has not required any more water during irrigation season tha-i was necessary to supply the irri-g irri-g a o;i below; yet it has cost about ii! ty rer ci-nt. more to furnish water f'-riiie iiiachinery on the city race than their tax amount to. The water &upp!y for the district !i;r:ng the year has been sufficient to mature the crops; except that part irrigated ir-rigated trom the Tanner race,and this ujhumciency was caused by parties floating ties in the river at the head ol the race, and by parties interfering wi: ii the dam and gates, and taking th- water out on the land west of the ra-",' owr which the city has no control. con-trol. To avoid tnis tiouble for the future 1 w:;uld recommend that the ty talH :"'rul of waters of rrxiurraee have wished to come un.iei the city's regulations. There is in the district twenty-one Urinating ditches, which require about twenty-one average irrigating ssrhiiis, fourteen of winch are oi-t;t;ned oi-t;t;ned from 1'rovo river, live through Tanner race, seven throiii-h the City race.and two tluough the Factory race. The other seven irrigating ditches ! art- supplied from seventj-one artesian wells which have been sunk by private parties, at a probable total cost of S5.00:).(K). Thesu weils aie mostly located in the south half of thejdistrict, and from one to nine of them How into every ditch. They supply one-third of the water used for irrigation and furnish furn-ish most of the water during winter season for domestic purposes, besides keeping the water ditches from overflowing over-flowing during freezing weather; I lind also that these wells increase the expense ex-pense of keeping the ditches in repair. The water from these wells being warm, causes the moss to accumulate to the extent that it is necessary to clean and repair the ditches at least twice each vear. Many of these wells, in my opinion, is very prejudicial to the health of our city. The water is warm, and the bad odors ari.-i-ig there-fromseem there-fromseem to come from an ohl'.stagtiant slough, and it is allowed to siand in stagnant pools and ditcher, accumulating accumula-ting moss and filth, and filling the air with poisonous vapors, as also befouling befoul-ing the water that many people have to'usa for domestic purposes. To provide pro-vide a remedy for the bad condition of many of these wells and ditches, I would suggest that some strict regulations regula-tions be put in operation that would require each owner ot any sucn wen to convey the water from his well to the public ditcii by means of a pipe, box or narrow channel with sufficient fall so that the water would run off readily, and that every person be restricted re-stricted from throwing the refuse from their houses and yards into any of the ditches. All public ditches should be kept clean, and all dams and gates should be made so that the water will run as rapidly as possible through the citv, I have collected all the water taxes that 1 could in labor, and applied the s-uiie in cleaning anu repairing me Jitches of the district; yet many of the ditches, dams and gates are not in as good condition as they should be. owing u the taxpayers not paying their taxes j in labor in the proper season. The taxes do not become delinquent until after the proper tinri for cleaning and repairing the ditches, 'and the city is j put to a great inconvenience and dis-advantage dis-advantage thereby. To mneidy this the ordinance should be amended so that the tax would become delinquent ten days after the notice to pay said taxes in labor. The railroad bridges over the ditches on E and I) streets are constantly so low that they obstruct the flow of water, and cause it to overflow the streets and adjacent property. 1 would surest that the city take such action 'i.-'The mutter that will require said obt-'riictions to be removed forthwith, aValso to can e the culverts under said r-iilroads on IJ and C streets to be re-jixired re-jixired and made so that the waters can How through. Deputy Watermaster Scott appends to his report a table showing the name a;;d status of each ditch in the west end of Provo. From this tab'e we ..in the fact that there are over ?.0 "niles of ditch, 71 artesian wells. 53i lots irrigated, 730-5 acres of land irri-1 gated, throe machines run by water. The tax assessed was &;K..5'. on lots, $3(50.25 on land, and $!)" tax on machines, making a grand total of taxes assessed, $M).7o. The total cost of keeping these ditches clean and in reiv.il- was $47-1.50, while the cost of constructing a new ditch was $152; cost of to lecting tax, distributing water a i'd superintending repairing ditch, making a total cost of $867.50. j |