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Show MAJOR PROBLEMS RAISED Escalante Valley Group Discusses State Court Water Control Order A major' problem of distribution and control of underground un-derground water in the Escalante Valley, rapidly expanded ex-panded agricultural area in western Iron County, is occupying oc-cupying the time of the water users of the valley and the state engineer's office. First step in putting into effect a recent order of the court pertaining to the distr'bution of water in the area will be taken when representatives from the state engineer's en-gineer's office and a committee of water users will meet in Enterprise on Jan. 10. The engineer has requested that the water users name a commit-1 tee of seven to represent them Jit the mee'ing, suggesting tha'j three be appointed from the south end of the valley and three from the north end of 'he valley, with the proposed wa'er commissioner serving as the seventh sev-enth member. The engineer announces that it is his hope not only to discuss water administration problems I but also to have a proposed re-I re-I search program of the .State Experimental Ex-perimental St a' ion and the Department De-partment of Agriculture to help alleviate some of the problems confronting both the water users and the state. Water users of the valley are alarmed about the effect the new edict will have on farming in the valley, bo'h f.om reduction of water pumped and expense of administration. First, a wafer commissioner must be appointed to administer the program in the area, and although al-though the state will pay a portion por-tion of the salary of such commissioner, com-missioner, it wrll be necessary to assess each user an amount to be determined to help defray expenses ex-penses Involved. In addition to this each veil must be metered so that the amount pumped can be measured, and this will involve in-volve considerable expense. Retail Re-tail prices of such meters are $265 for an 8-inch well and $300 for a 10-inch well, which it Is estimated es-timated would cost the users approximately ap-proximately $58,000. Of course, the farmers may reduce this cost some through cooperative buying. buy-ing. The farmers are even more alarmed about water shortages 'hat may result from the order. Farmers will be allowed to use three acre feet of water per acre of land each year, and many of them are afraid that this will not be sufficient to mature their crops, particularly In dry years. It Is possible that the amount may be sufficient on farms that have concrete irrigation ditclies, but most farmers fear that the supply will be Inadequate In most Ins'ances. The engineer states that meetings meet-ings with representatives of the State Agricultural Experiment Station and the Depar'ment of Agriculture, have been held and that these agencies are prepared and anxious to carry on considerable consid-erable InvesMgative work in the I Escalante Valley. Such studies aa tO itOW itiiiCii Wdlci ia Iculiru for distribution and application losses under various soil, topo- . , graphic and crop conditions, would be undertaken. Also, they may be available to s'udy economic eco-nomic effecfs of water use limitation lim-itation in the valley. It has been suggested that the water users commi'ee be retained asa contact con-tact betwen the farmers and these agencies. The engineer department will present views on the problems of distribution and con'rol at the meeting in Enteprise on Jan. 10, and will also present plans for. carrving out distribution In the i valley. V |