1938: Reclamation

Land reclamation and irrigation have become factors of increasing importance in American affairs during recent years, first, because of the magnitude of the projects themselves; second, because the projects involve problems of engineering, agriculture, and economics; third, because the place of irrigation in the larger agricultural life of the nation challenges consideration; fourth, because irrigation is no longer considered in terms of isolated projects but is regarded as an important aspect of conservation of our natural resources.

Scope.

As in other fields of conservation work, many Federal agencies are concerned today with irrigation. The Bureau of Reclamation plans and supervises construction and operation. The Department of Agriculture aids the irrigation farmer through its Bureaus of Agricultural Engineering, Plant Industry, and Agricultural Economics, and its Forest Service. The work of the Farm Security Administrations also extends to irrigation enterprises. The Geological Service studies stream flows and dam sites. The Army Engineers, the PWA, and the CCC aid in financing and construction; and the National Resources Committee coordinates all conservation planning.

Function of Reclamation.

The question is repeatedly asked: When the Federal Government is advocating and promoting crop restriction, why are irrigation enterprises extended? Several reasons are advanced by proponents: First, irrigation works are an integral part of a systematic effort to control rivers and flood run-off and to reduce soil wastage, thus aiding in the conservation and wise use of water and soil resources. Second, unwise agriculture and soil erosion have destroyed millions of acres of land in humid regions, which may be partly replaced by irrigated lands. Third, the droughts of 1934 and 1936 have caused about 100,000 families to migrate farther west, and farms can be found for these people only on new irrigation enterprises. Fourth, the curve of food production in the United States is leveling off more rapidly than the population curve, and for future decades there is the definite prospect of a food shortage. Hence, development of irrigation is part of the long-range planning for the food requirements of our population.

Projects.

The Central Valley Project in California best illustrates the many varied functions for which recent projects provide: It will aid navigation, flood control, irrigation, underground water supplies which have been so depleted by pumping that many acres of irrigated land have been abandoned in the past few years; and it will control salt-water seepage in the delta, urban water supplies, reforestation, and hydroelectric power development. The project is three-fold: first, the great Shasta Dam, begun late in 1938, will impound and regulate the waters of the Upper Sacramento River; second, water will be pumped from the well-watered Sacramento section up the San Joaquin River; third, the Friant Dam on the headwaters of the San Joaquin will divert water to the southern end of the valley, where water is most lacking.

In southern California, the Bureau of Reclamation completed in 1938 the All-American Canal, to furnish, in conjunction with the storage facilities of Boulder Dam, a larger and steadier supply of water to the Imperial Valley. Its use will begin in 1939. Huge desilting works, the first of their kind, were also placed in operation here. The canal and the dam, completed in 1936, are part of a unified Lower Colorado River development, another phase of which, embracing the Parker Dam and the gigantic 242-mile Colorado Aqueduct, is designed chiefly to furnish drinking water to the Los Angeles area.

The one large area which can still be reclaimed by irrigation is the arid region of south-central Washington. Work is being pushed rapidly on the Grand Coulee Dam across the Columbia River, the largest man-made structure in the world, which will eventually furnish water for 1,200,000 acres. It will impound 10,000,000 acre-feet of water in a lake 151 miles long (Boulder Dam capacity is 30,500,000 acre-feet), supplemented by a balancing reservoir in the Coulee itself, to which water will be pumped from the river reservoir and thence fed southward to the irrigable land. The world's greatest project, however, in area irrigated (5,500,000 acres), is the recently completed Lloyd Barrage on the Indus River in India.

Power Installations.

Poawer installations are being made more commonly in conjunction with irrigation projects, in some cases on a huge scale, as at Boulder and Grand Coulee dams. Part of the power will be used for pumping water to farms and for rural electrification, but most will be 'exported' to urban centers. The Pacific Coast is growing rapidly in population and industrialization, and public power advocates assert that all the vast increase in power will be absorbed in a few years. Many critics, however, cannot foresee an adequate economic return for these installations.

New legislation allows part of dam costs to be assessed against power production, thus reducing the burden to be borne by irrigation farmers in repaying construction costs, which have greatly increased in recent years because most of the cheaply developed areas have been taken up by commercial and cooperative organizations. Practically all recent projects are Federal, for they are on too large a scale for private initiative. In addition, the Federal Government is being called upon to improve private enterprises and to furnish them with additional water on a cost-return basis. The Colorado — Big Thompson project, begun in 1938, will divert water from the Colorado River across the Rocky Mountains in a 13-mile tunnel to the old colonies in the South Platte Basin.

Other large works under construction are the Seminole Dam which, in conjunction with the recently-completed Alcova Dam, will furnish water for the new Kendrick project on the North Platte in Wyoming, and additional water for older enterprises downstream; and the Bartlett Dam in Arizona, to aid flood-control and water-supplies in the Salt River valley. The Vale and Owyhee projects in eastern Oregon were recently completed, and many smaller projects are under construction in several states.

Progress Made.

In recognition of the need for a more thorough study of potential irrigation areas, aerial mapping, land utilization, water-supply and soil studies, and engineering surveys are now systematically covering the western drainage basins, particularly in Idaho and the Upper Colorado watershed. Altogether, enterprises under way or planned will add 2,500,000 acres to the present Federal total of 3,000,000 and national total of 20,000,000. Yet irrigated acreage is but 2½ per cent of the total arid area, and the maximum irrigable land is only 4 per cent. These figures emphasize the limits of irrigation possibilities.

Economic Trends.

Reviewing economic trends, fertile soil and assured water supplies continue to give annual crop values averaging, per acre, 2½ times the national average, thus off-setting the higher costs of production. The crops grown are largely non-competitive with the great staples which are temporarily overproduced. Irrigation areas make no attempt to be even agriculturally self-sufficient and constitute a large market for eastern agricultural and industrial areas. Nevertheless, in consequence of low crop prices, construction repayments for 1936 and 1937 have had to be remitted or reduced, to be repaid later; but tax payments have been little in arrears, a record which contrasts favorably with adjoining range lands. In general, irrigation areas seem to be paying their way as well as, or better than, other agricultural lands, though some farms have been abandoned as uneconomic.

Financing.

The total investment to date in irrigation enterprises is about $1,200,000,000, the government share being over $430,000,000. The fund set up by the Reclamation Act has been dwindling, for repayments have not equaled new appropriations. Added funds have been secured from the general treasury and the PWA, and by recent enactment farm repayments from these funds will accrue to the Reclamation Fund. In 1938, $30,000,000 of accumulated oil royalties were also granted to the Reclamation Bureau.

Physical Problems.

Physical problems also face irrigation farmers, particularly drainage of land to prevent water-logging and accumulation of alkali. The past two years have seen increasing attention paid to the entire question of proper water-supplies, and to care of the soil, erosion control, weed control, etc.

Legal Questions.

Legal questions continue to hamper developments. Arizona has not yet ratified the Colorado River Interstate Compact. Water appropriation rights are still in process of definition and restriction. Private interests in Colorado sought to upset the Colorado-New Mexico Compact apportioning waters from the Plata River, claiming prior appropriation rights; but the compact, and the right of compact, were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1938.

Drainage.

Drainage in humid areas has not shown any marked increase recently. In Florida, small sections of the Everglades swamps are being reclaimed for tropical agriculture, as a result of an extensive drainage and levee program still under way by the Army Engineers. While acreage artificially drained greatly exceeds irrigated acreage, more attention to this question may be necessary in the future, especially in the Mississippi Delta and the coastal areas of the South. The largest project of this kind is being carried out in The Netherlands, where a program involving partial draining of the Zuider Zee will yield ultimately 500,000 acres of much-needed agricultural land. The first polders were brought under cultivation in 1937 and 1938.