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Show The Utah Water Storage Association and Its Work By A. F. PARKER. Chief Engineer. I Any state, as a commonwealth, depends de-pends primarily upon Its agriculture. In I'tah. agriculture depends upon Irrigation. Ir-rigation. Thus Irrlgalon Is plainly of paramount Importance to the growth and wcllbeina if tin- xtaie; the matter uf a water supply for Irrigation should IN first In th- hands of all who have thought and desire m see Utah irrow and prosper. Utah Is an empire Of potential resources, most prominent miong which Is the possibility Intent In Hi water supply ;for on the last analysts, the soul of the common wealth Is not t the desk or behind the counu r; not In the dark of the mine or the smol.e f the nn i . not In the roar of the railroad or the din of the factory: rather it Is In the open un-lll and well tilled fields where ir-t ir-t lg.it ion Is king. POeWBILJTTEfl i i i I i ri l l Authorities tell us thai Utah has 54.-MHi.uon 54.-MHi.uon ,,.im of I. Mi l ".ii.oihi. 1 acre" which ii :rilde land; that there are 5.000,000 acres thai may he brought under Irrigiitlon. Iut ther. r, tow oni' 1 ' ;!'- IrrlgAted. t ;ah ! the birthplsos f Irrigatlt a bi 'he Anglo-Saxon race on this rontln- in. in Pali Lak- '-. years, -igo the first water was diverted from CltJ Creek to Irrlratc growing rops. Naturally Nat-urally the fir-r diversions for Irlrgatlon were made when po -Ible with expense. Iatri the more difficult and expensive canals were, in turn, undertaken. under-taken. Bach eommunltj did the easiest easi-est thing to secure Irrigation water, but the canals became Increasingly more and more cost and difficult to build, it appears thai most of the c.mals practical to build In this way have) been completed long atjo. The fact that the irrigated an ,v of 1.000.-"'ii 1.000.-"'ii act, 1 has got mal itcreased for a long time is proof thai 'he er of small development Js past and the big things must be undertaken. While It Is poavlbl to more than double the wealth and population permanently, per-manently, by building reservoirs and ! high-line canals, such v.'ork is of a magnitude placlnr. it beyond th poer-'rs poer-'rs of local communities to finance. And further, the sourc s of the niali supply have to furnish watei to so many separate communities and their' interc.-ls :ir- o ! i . t . r . ....mi aim Involv-j d in the development I tat the matter! must be onu I .i . hole under nome plan ot organisation supported by cooperation of Interested. Without With-out undertaking the dev lopment I along such lines, it may'n wi ll be ad- IIOllll-U IIIUl V .11' .11 . . I II i I I I I , V.' hai now reached abouf our full de- velopment and .ire falling to the rear of the procession of west- rn states that depend on Irrigation. Dr. John . widisoc, president of the Unlveraltv of Utah and a recognized recogniz-ed authority on irrigation, soya: "irrigation In an arid counts musi be plaod on a par with other great public necessities, like education and the preservation of health, and should not be looked upon merely in terms of the direct return of t h Investment in reservoirs and canals. Where C stale depends for i: vin isi n . upon a practice, that practice should be accepted more and more as a state ern. ' Mow Is all lh Irrigation expans:in demanded by Utah' future, to he ae-1 compllshed ! first, bj th edw ition of the people Into a full understanding' of the necessity and ioittllles of ir- ligation, followed bj wise legislative action to point out the path the people! must travel if thej are to lay more broadly the Irrigation foundation of, he state "Then business and professional ' I ' 'I li'i. C r .. I. .' n . e i heir , . Istence from s commonwealth baaed j I essentially upon Irrigation, nm- unitedly unit-edly Insist, even at their own tempor- sacrifice, the forward Irrigation j tSPS OS taken, and that bv education muI leglsl itlnn. I t ih's irrigation .r.-. be Increased, H,in If It murt l.e ,i( I the state's expense. It must be a community, s state affair, because the existence and the future of the state! i!epMl,J on it " W M I 11 STORAt.l VSSCM I VTION Realising the truth of the foregoing and spurred n to action ! the n lb I shortage of Isl. a small grdup of public spirited ,,,,1 r.,r-. inn men pro- .led to start development of the' state's water supplv. The firm step was the formation of the Utah Water storage association In the summer ofi iis. While it was realised that the i water supply of the whole state needed attention, a start had to be made somewhere. Aoeordlngly, it was da-; da-; .'hied to begin with the Weber and1 Prenro rirero, which supply water to I I the "Heart of Utah." This Involved i l rln counties of nlt I-ake. iiavt. Mor- ran. Summit. Wooatcb. t'tah and f Tooele. The association njemlrshlp now omprlses represenfatlve citizens and county officials of the eight counties.' Hon. 1 N" Pierce, pioneer canner of , Ogden, and member of the state legislature, legis-lature, Is president; Ifoyof IeRoy Dixon Dix-on of Proo, vice president W. W. Armstrong, president of the National opper hank if Salt 1-ake. Treasurer and J. Lee Meehan. secretary. The executive ex-ecutive board consists of the aboc named officers and W, H. Wallls of Salt Uil.e, .Joseph Ft. Mnrdock of Heber city. J. I.. Lytei. u. s. rscigma-l tlon engineer, of PrOYO, and G o. I-" I McGulre, state engineer. So man were active n the matter that it Is dlffleult to say to whom belongs be-longs the credit of starting this great public undertaking, but the names of l those honored with election a officers iof the association and forming the ex-'ecutlve ex-'ecutlve hoard are most prominent. To those, principally, the association 'owes Its existence, and the. gratitude ot the StatS Is dm- them. I The status of the association is, atl this time, only quavt-offlctal. The foregoing, very briefly, shows reasons ' for Its formation. Purthsr reasons and ! outlines of the objects It has in view follow, but li prominent and ln- totanf Id.-a thro.ijfhout Is the welfare1 !;n d advancement of the state, well cx-ipiessed cx-ipiessed by the slogan adopted: "t'tah's future agricultural growth will be .measured by the storage of water now! Sj . - ted." j In what follows It is only possible ( to indicate th.- general trend of the, final report to come later. I XGIM i MN'Ci I H I STIGATIO Aetp.e work began a soon as the 'organisation was effected and funds, provided by ihe countv commissioners ... the eight counties. Thin was earl - ptember, r."ir Work was begun, on the Weber river watershed, as that was the Initial source of water supply. While thst part a u talrl; wall covared 'before sormv we.itlKr e.iiised a ces-Sation ces-Sation of work, the Provo river area had very little done on it. Nevenhc-li Nevenhc-li a report on ihe work accomplished accomplish-ed was prepared, printed and Issued In January of this year.. Thin spring work was resumed on the Provo river area anil the, survey work finished early in July. When these fell botes are worked up and estimates made there will he available, data Of -iifflcient del ill and acruraey to Indicate clearly the brst way to pro-' .r.i to mak s full development of the water supple of the stream men-' tloned. Tii, results will be sufficient, t ir'ulde ittdgment and to direct future ( operations- in short, to shew reliably rtol atiinflS ln .lone When the final report summing up fhe results Of work done, givlne; pre- I mlnary estimates, and pointing out the b si th.i.g to do. Is fortheomlnK as It will be this fall, the first really serious a nd couKlstcnt step v 111 have been completed In the solution of the v..,:.r supply development In Utah's most Important agricultural area. But i 1 is only the first step; a sstep that must be followed up by positive, ciea-tlvc ciea-tlvc action if the value of the work II to be realized as It should be. In I th advancement of agriculture with It consequent increase In the state's! wealth and population. PICOPI R DEI l i I H'M' N l pri per development of the natural rr sources of water ajid land can oni: , bg done bj the publlf; no private In-t" In-t" rets should he allowed to nmke ; irtlol development; nor should a section sec-tion be allowed to do so It can only treated, organbied and designed as s whole. In this way onlv can the1 Interest Qf he ;.ite be protected and reach an ultimate devolopmebt, To carr out such B program Is a' work of magnitude, hut thfl welfare and progress of the stats depend upon S full development of the water. The final repot: will show how it 'Can best1 -lone, and In detail. !t Is not only di strable but public duty, the neglect of which cannot be excused. There are needed men of vision, enterprise. mot tnlt It I lf In lo.H nrtA ftt iir.t.nrl of the people, hv cooperation, under proper organization. The final report ' ; - i r. in de-tatl. de-tatl. In addition to sjorage reservoirs and high l'ne canals, seeral power plant; ffr developing Slectlic DO WOT from the some water that Is under transport to the lands for use In Irrigation, Ir-rigation, so that It is possible to ha I le ap power to use for pumping water up to sections not easily supplied otherwise. UK. 1NI35 I ' i DlSmUl Is-It Is-It Is ev blent that It Is impossible for so many cetloni to do business and properly to dev. lop the water supply. In which all are Interested, without hsvlng some company, bod. or association asso-ciation to represent and handle fhe Interests as a whole an organization resembling teh Watcr-l'sers associations associa-tions of the Salt river and Rio Orande (alleys In case of federal aid being possible, such a bodv Is absolutely necessary' to present the matter prop- r'.v and to transact business. Such ,an arrangement. properlv organised,! will add stability to the whole, and will make financing SOSter. A state reclamation act similar to' the one now in force In the state of-Washington, of-Washington, would be another for-j ward step toward a proper develop-! I ment of the state's irrigation possibilities. possibili-ties. In this way the state can best I share and aid. as It should. In the' foundation so necessary to build upon. Both Salt I-ake Cltv and gden need additional water for the present supply sup-ply Is now inadequate in loth place, to say nothing of the Increased demands de-mands that are sure to result fr..m growth to come. Both places must look to the Weber and Provo rivers aa a source of ultimate s'ipply. it Is, practical so to design and plan that! the same reservoirs and high Unci canals for conveying Irrigation water' can also carry water for municipal uses at the same time . Combining construction In this wag will make less cost for both the cities and the farmers. farm-ers. The clue should come in under the Central organization with the district; dis-trict; then the work can be done an el th water divided according to the in-' terests of each. Wlllard D. Ellis, president of th?i Federal Iand hank of Berkeley, in etter f Farm Bureau, as: "Irrigation district bonds stand higher today in the Investment world: than anv other form of Irrigated land' securities This Is largelv through the wise management exercised over the,, irrigation districts and the avallablllO of engineering data regarding water) rights, water suppl . drainage conditions, condi-tions, etc . of a district making It easy for prospective lmetnrs to Investigate Conditions, when contemplating the' purchase of srcurlties of a district. "Generally speaking. If purchasers i of land In I'tah were is careiesr. about i ohtalnlng title to their land as the! are about obtaining title to a water i riRht that should go with the land, I the- would find themselves with no . land at all." M MU oi H win ., DIscUSSing ways of handling the present unsatisfactory situation, Mr Ellis says: "Perhaps in the end the bc-u way is i by the formation of irrigation districts dis-tricts by the state law. "This bank ithe Federal l-an.l hank o? Berkrlej therefore, is especially In- I terested in the formation of the pro- 1 por-d irrigation district, since j wc believe present unsatisfactory .. v ater rights and water supply conditions condi-tions would be very much iuiproed Al rights incorporated Within Ihe district dis-trict would, as we understand it, automatically auto-matically become appurtenant to th" land, through the application of the now Irrigation law which makes the '!' r appurtenant to the land. Then again, the irrigation district would have the power to provide drainage within the district where drainage Is neccsar. Any one Interested in the organization of drainage districts will certainly realize the imnortance of giving the irrigation dlstrct organlza-ton organlza-ton pow.-T to handle drainage ques-' tions. In California, the irrigation dls-trlcts dls-trlcts me solving drainage problems With much more dispatch than if the( disc riots were not authorized to deal with drainage questions. 'Too much credit cannot be gner, to those who first practiced irrigation Iti the slate of Utah, and to those who; have continued it and gradually lm-' l in ed their methods. However, the time has arrived when the people of Utah should seriously consider the proposition is to whether the desire to do business with ther neighbors only, or whether they want to so ad-i Just their water rights and Increase their present supply so that they may do business With anyone, nnywlvn S I K . IRG1 MINI The above quotations, from such a source, are particularly ant and valu able, they are obviouslv as true as they are specific Such considerations ir- strong arguments In Showing the 'formation of irrigation districts to be necessary to the well-being, peace end advancement of the state. All this argument Is enttrels aslri. from the direct momentary advantage that will accrue l0 the people through Increase of crop values, insurance against WSster shortage and augmented population. popula-tion. There are three excellent reasons why irrigation districts should be forme,) throughout th eight counties Concerned In the water supph fiii ii Ished by the Weber and Provo rivers First: The water allotments made in each district will gie reliable Information In-formation as to the amount of water needed Information absolutely necessary neces-sary to have before decisions can be made; and. Serond; Because the interests of ! different sections are so Interwoven and involved in the same sources of Supply, there seenis to be no practical ' way to do business without having Irrigation Ir-rigation districts formed throughout t he ijfht counties. Third There Is a de ide.l need for a better, more detailed and readily accessible record of Individual water rights. The water rights are of more Value th in the land without water and th.re is now no satisfactory wav of recording such rights. Irrigation districts dis-tricts organizations will afford such records. --I GGESTED DI91 RICH Teh following ares uggested as proper prop-er districts for the eight counties: 1 Bonneville, now organized. 2 Weber COunty, now being formed. 3 1 .. ris county, now being formed. 4 Morgan OOunty, now being formed. S Summit county. 6--Wasatch countj . 7 Utah countx. east of Ftah Ike and north of Provo. 8 Utah countv. betwe. n i'tah I.k and Cedar Valley. I-I'lth count. t'edar Valley, 1 Salt lke: county, east of Jordan river. 11 Salt Iake county, west of Jordan river. ' 12 Tooele county. The foregoing districts, tentatlvelv 1 outlined embrace area having lntei-, evs in common with local problems differing from other areas but supplied 'with water from a common sourse: ' i when formed, the water allotment will' show the needs of each and thus th. business of obtaining a water supply will be made definite. Then the -districts can separated- raise the necessary neces-sary money to develop their water sup. pU and contract with the eeatral body: !' do the actual work, and the district .organization win afford a record of water rights of great value; as alu-able. alu-able. in fact as are the records of real estate as kept bv the counties M .II I ll I Mil Rl M. Following are some figures .omptled from the best available sources of In-, formation that gles an Idea of the1 magnitude of the Interests Invert ed The figures are for the r ISIS. Th first three columns of the following tabulation contain data supplied from th re.-ords of the estate Uoard of Equalization, the fl-vire In the last two columns are complied from tb i records of the Htate Crop Statistical Department of Agriculture, being the' average a furnldhed by th State Board of Equalization as a basis for computing th value of crops pr acre Acres dropped Kjrru Assessed. Lands lilu. of Fur n. including Fount; Kru.t Lands Total Klt Lake z lll.2S7.dst' lavts ... .. JS.1S2 .lt,ti Weber : : : x;: vjs Margas l M.7 j Summit e.7 i i m" Wasatch 22.5SS 2.635,31 r. Ftah 107.62 13.&J.61 Tooele 44.6T1 ) .101.44 ' Total S counties. C79.lt: 1 :.. 05.9 1 , Value of Crops Per A-re Total Per Acre II".. ' S4V434.000 6 : ! HI K i 2.924.00a 76.74 15. 71 3. 71". nan 77.71 7 3.42 "000 4171 47 73 ti 4.ni"i i 1 1 . 11C.SS 467.000 ;a.. ; 129. 7 7,201.000 f,. v; 24.67 1.027.000 2J ,tl 1 120.27 20.942.O00 tK.U Partlsl segrej-:,tion of crop value In bove ight counties: Tame hay j K.S40.01111 Sutar bee is 4 oou All wheat 2,509,000 A" fruit j ape r Potatoes 78!oo Sf 1fS.oo(. w "Id hay 454 OA0 Rnr,N 432 000 V,orn 272.000 '; 28.0SH All other crops l.IOf.SOO 220. 942,aoe "hen It is realized that a full de-velopmsni de-velopmsni of our water supplv will a conservative estimate, double the figures given. o,0 importance of the matter becomes evident: no good argument ar-gument can be brought against the wisdom of forming Irrigation dletrcts-M dletrcts-M bri-l organizations to bring such development about M I I RKAG1 W. P. Thomas. Weher County Farm agent is authotltj foi the statement nat there was planted to sugar beets in Weber county in 1919 a total of 11.- 000 aere- The average vbi,i wa tons an acre instead of the usual average aver-age of 1J ton8 n Mcr obtained whn he water supply Is sufficient. The shortage of 14,000 t,-,,,, UJu. fIvjr rntlre. ly to lack of irrigation watr. At $11 1 ton the the actual cash lo to the nrraera on the beet crop alone l 'hus 1.000 for one ear . Fonsiderlng that this loss is from 11. 000 acre p a conservntlNe to estimate a total cash loss to the farmers of Weber countv ooo7oo.a 8hrl walcr sea?on l n': Hut there is also a further loss At U1 extraction of 200 pounds of sugar rrom each ton of beets, there Was , loss of 88.000 Backs of sugar (00 pounds to the sack. At $12.00 per ack the uotentini , . H. 1 44.000. Taking this concrete "f "lie : of s,)ga, k seems raiy to place the total loss i., the eigi,-. -t $:.0uo.ooo actual .ash lo to the farmers and a potential buslnes-loss buslnes-loss of $15,000,000 a year due to the ater shortage. OUTLAY WD i OMK or those who want an argument in dollars it may be well to sav that only s very general one can be presented pre-sented now; the benefits, both direct indirect, are yo obvious that figures are not now needed for an argument I Y hen computed the development will double ihe present value of crops pro-1 duced WhlCh I In th- elghT counties 1 $-1,000,000, in round numbers ThLs amount of $21,000,000 iR raUch morel than the entire work win cost, so that one v,rs value of the Increased 1 rop j production will eoua! the entire cost and more, not considering the inereas-1 ed a'-ssed valu. which will add sub-1 Kantlallly to the revenues of the state the increased population and the Insurance In-surance against shortage of 1st.- irrigation ir-rigation water, which will prompt the Planting of gr.-.tter areas to the mor,; profitable and lal- crops. When It Is considered that, at the' present time, there is a great shortage! f. ,jte fur ,hP "rc Planned! hlch a full development will supplv I that there is no relief from losse due iJLiS ,acklof Witt' - during seasons of' jiiv.n win rc over-COmt over-COmt by storage of flood waW r that there will be ., fuli supply for greatly increased areas of land not now farm-ed. farm-ed. that there win also be furnished water for reclaimed swampy and waterlogged land, whirh the district organization provides for. the estimate maile of doubling present returns is conservative. The fact thai these districts are now we 1 settled with thriving communities I and so colonization, with Us cost and delavs .s avoided and an ample and I , " ' basis of value on which to seir bond is aire.idv provided The districts dis-tricts here are very favorably situated roi quick realization of profitable re-turns re-turns H I n it -1 PRLl BHORTAG1 flie diagram accompanvlng this pa-;per pa-;per will gv a fair idea of the magnl tud, of the unoartoklng that the as-, soclation Is endeavorln- to put In the fray of realization The Weber riVS has a water supph in normal years. Jn excess of the need Ol the nnr Biir.nllA J K I . .. OJ 11. wnne th 1. verse ifl true of the Provo Th. weber hydrology has been rather ex IhaustiVSly studied. The ax erase runoff run-off at Devil's Jate for the vears 1905 I to 1918, inclusive. I, 46.G40 acm f.-et Trrigated ahrc thaf Dolnt ls ful,y 'For irrigation below Devil's 2-1. IE, 1 Ftod for power production j and Unavoidably wasted.. 137.498 Surplus flood to be diverted to Provo rler .. 7?.:S4 Total a re feet . 465.640 It must be kept In mind that the figures represented an average of four-ten four-ten years. So.-m years there will be more and some years less water to be used on the Provo slrt--. The j:i.30" acre feet is all that is n -ded to Irrigate Ir-rigate the land below Devil's Gate on the Weber v it. r m b. di v. -rteil for use cm the Provo sld- until the 1 lOd on the Wel. 1 is supplied, which makes the water supplv to be turned oxer for use on the Provo a vojrlatoh aotOUM, depending' on the amount of run-off. which varies from year to X.-ir. The above statement Is true provided pro-vided that districts are li.imedl.'teiv formed on the Weber watershed that will use the 251, SSI acre feet. For the reason thai the water to be had from the Weber foi use on thi Provo is arlable in shiount, and ror thla purpose, the possibilities of getting get-ting a further supply from Bear river and Hlacks Fork, together with the! Yellow Creek and Coyote reservoirs.' as set fortti in . ni-ioer's rcpor. of J.injar. 19:o. j.iust riot be forgotten. for-gotten. The hydrology r.f the Provo river, inciudinir nx Ii ,ir.c 1 111. 1 .1. 1 h.. I Jordan river, is very complicated am' difficult. It has not been possible at I this writing to get result that can be given her.-, such will appear in the! jfinal report. One thins. Is evident, (however. If Ftah I-uke ..-Kir. led as a storage reservoir, with storsgs from I the Mirf.ice downward instead of upward, up-ward, there arc gr. at possibilities Of Sdvs stage, ft MP UP LAK By h.Tlr. che.ip electric power, as Will be shown In Ihe final report. Ftah' 1 ' may be pumped up through t'ne( irrigation season to supply the canals ' at Jordan Narrows, and then, filled agnln through the vinfer and spring. This is better. In tvery way. than t make the lakr a reservoir by means of I a dyke. By making the storage downward! and pumping the wat-r bj heap pow-er. pow-er. damage by flooding, due tG too! hlKh lake levels 1 avoided, as is also, lh expen.s.. ol ,iv. which 1 Wy great, and full bSnefH mal derived from the hunk l . i-n ir mwA ii. I from springs, which win be available by towering the lake level as suggested. suggest-ed. In this way full advantage will be taken of the immense reserve of underground un-derground water supply In connection with Ftah Lake and the evaporation los- ail be materially lessened The evidence that there I imperative impera-tive need for some active work to be at once undertaken. Is not to be de- i i" o point out wnat must be - done and the way to begin doing some-j some-j thing that the Ftah Water Storage fsssoclation has taken up the work in jhand. If I'tah in to avoid being In tho rear in Irrigation matters, of me procession pro-cession of western state h. this work must be energetically followed up bv 1 constructive organizations, cooperation coopera-tion .nd legislative fiction. |
