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Show FEW RULES OF MEASUREMENT I Second Foot Is Standard Unit for j Flowing Water In Most of Irrigating Irrigat-ing States in West. I j Refering to the units of water meas-I meas-I nrement the following is, in part, the I definitions given by Prof. W. H. Olin, director of agricultural extension, Idaho university. "The miners' Inch is our oldest unit and was first used by the placer miner. "Th3 s,econd foot or cubic foot per second is the unit of volume used for gauging rivers and measuring the flow of ditches and irrigating canals. If it flows over a weir, one second of time, it is called a Becond foot, or cubic foot per second. A cubic foot of water in Colorado Is 38.4 statute (miner's) inches; in California and Montana, 40; in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah, 50 statute or miner's inches. "An acre foot is the amount of water necessary to cover an acre of land one foot or twelve Inches deep. It is the unit used for measuring storage or reservoir water. A second foot of water wa-ter running constantly twenty-four hours and twelve minutes delivers two acre feet, or sufficient water to cover an acre of ground with water two feet deep. Therefore, one twenty-fourth of a second foot, flowing for one day, would approximate an inch of rain. "The simplest unit of measure is the acre foot. Time does not enter into this, for it is simply a unit of volume. Second foot is the standard unit for flowing water in .ost of the western states and the measure of the flow renders time an essential element. "A weir is a measuring device for determining the flow of water in a given time for a definite distance. It can on2y properly be used for structures struc-tures designed to permit water to flow over the crest with a good fall on the down-stream side. The weir is used in Australia, India, Italy, Canada, Mexico and practically all Irrigation districts of the United States. An engineer, Cesare Cippoletti, in charge of an Italian irrigation company, prepared pre-pared a weir which was so formed that the area of same should increase, by an amount proportionate to the depth of the weir, and balance the loss due to contraction. This weir was trapezoidal in form, made of cut stone, the crests and sides with iron plates, permanent measuring devices which will do duty for generations. This is the form of trapezoidal weir which engineers know as the Cippoletti. Cippo-letti. It is preferred by state engineers, en-gineers, who state that when T:his form is placed with care it is reliable within one per cent of error. Dams, when so designed as to cause the waters wa-ters to flow over their crests, can be termed weirs." The method of distributing water for Irrigation and the duties of the officials who supervise this phase of the practice is clearly " outlined by Professor Olin In the following language: lan-guage: "Most of the state engineers have found it advantageous to divide the state into water divisions, the boundary bound-ary of which shall be determined by drainage lines. Each division has Its division engineer, who is, by virtue of his position, a deputy state engineer, efficient. For each of these districts in such a manner as shall make the distribution of irrigation water most efficient. Fos each of these districts is a water commissioner. He has direct charge of regulating headgates so that the water shall be equitably distributed among those having water rights for same. "Ditch owners are require to install in-stall measuring devices and the state has stream gaugings made so the water commissioner may know the amount of water he has for his district dis-trict distribution. The commissioner closes all gates according to decreed rights, in times of shortage, and it Is a criminal offense in practically all states to change a headgate when once set by the water commissioner. "The commissioner is further charged charg-ed with the duty of reporting statistical statisti-cal data, regarding irrigation, in his district, on streams, reservoirs, ditches and crops grown. The various water companies of a district have a water superintendent. He has personal supervision of all the main ditches or laterals which lead to. the irrigated lands of all patrons of his company. It is his business to look after the maintenance, repair and cleaning of said canals and ditches, so that in the irrigating season they shall be carriers of water with least waste from loss and seepage possible. To distribute or measure to individual users, he employs water measures, commonly known as 'ditch riders.' Each user has measured out to him his amount of water, at the headgate of the lateral which controls -the irrigation irri-gation of his land, by the ditch rider. The ditch rider, in turn, receives his water from the district water commissioner, com-missioner, who turns it from the source stream." |
