OCR Text |
Show Water Wasters Are Cautioned "The water condition, in so far as that which feeds the Highland reservoir reser-voir is concerned, is deplorable and all evidence points to wrongful diversion. This condition should be stopped and drastic measures should be restored to for the protection of the farmers who look to this source for irrigation waters. It is a shame and those who are to blame should be summarily dealt with." This was the expression of a well known business man to a News writer yesterday yes-terday and it followed a visit to the reservoir and canals which feed a portion of the lands on the east side of the valley. "The Gunnison Irrigation company is supposed to supply the Highland with approximately 1040 shares of watre from Six Mile creek," said the speaker. "At present there is ample for this purpose but it is doubtful if a third of that amount of water reaches the Highland reservoir. There are several reasons that may be assigned. as-signed. First the clogging of the canals is causing a loss of water sufficient to irrigate many hundreds of acres of land and another perceptible per-ceptible loss is noticeable through some of the fields through which the main laterals flow. Carlessness by allowing weeds and derbis to fill the ditches, causing an overflow and waste is easily preventable and if a little more ambition was shown and the ditches cleaned properly a big saving would be made. It is intimated inti-mated that water is being wrongfully diverted in the absence of watchmen. This should be stopped at once and if necessary arrests should be made and the guilty ones brought to justice and dealt with accordingly. "There is ample water for the entire en-tire Gunnison Valley fields, but if the waste is continued and indiscriminate indiscrim-inate pilfering continued someone is sure to suffer." Generally speaking the beets throughout the valley are in fine shape and this is the result of intensive inten-sive cultivation. Realizing that other sections of the country were suffering suffer-ing crop losses for lack of water, many of the beet growers arp adopting adopt-ing the plan of plying more time to cultivation and conservation of water than ever before and the indications that better and bigger crops will be harvested this fall. |