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. was above normal, and the water supply, with few exceptions, exceeded the need. The public felt confident that procurement of water supplies was chiefly a matter of building more and bigger dams, or deepening wells. The stream gauging program expanded slowly but was inadequate, and in the early 1930's there were less than a dozen men trained in ground- water hydrology. .. Then came the droughts and dust storms of the '30's, rummg thousands of farms and subsequently, though temporarily, reducing the population of the marginal parts of the midwest. The federal government promptly began to build reservoirs and impound water for irrigation and other uses, or for flood protection. Many were built with insufficient data. Some were poorly constructed and proved useless or wasteful, but. others were successful and provided the essential water and power to help win World War II. The drought forced realization that water resources are not inexhaustible, and gave impetus to collection of basic data and conservation of water, soil, and forest. During and since World War II water demands have spiraled to heights never before conceived possible, so the need for precise information about water resources has increased. ~ However, basic information of itself is not sufficient prerequisite to wise and sound planning of the development of water resources. There must also be real appreciation of basic data., based upon thorough under- standing of the inter-relationships between precipitation, soil water, ground' water, surface water and atmospheric water. We must achieve and use this understanding if a prosperous economy is to be sustained here. History is replete with examples of civilizations dependent upon irrigation, which rose, flourished, and declined. Although many factors may have contributed, it seems likely that rising water tables, salt accu- mUlation and other natural phenomena diminished the productivity of the regions until the people, unable to remedy the situation, moved away and sought other pursuits, or fell easy prey to invaders. . . Development of the Colorado River Basin as a whole is in its early stages, although the basin contains some of the oldest and largest devel- opments of the West. Construction of Hoover Dam and solution of many problems of irrigation in the Salton and Gila Valleys, such as water logging, increasing mineralization, and ground water depletion, is evidence that this group is capable and willing to meet the challenge of the future in establishing a long term stable economy. In order to do it, it is essential to attempt an honest appraisal of our water supply situation and of means for greater efficiency of use. First need is to determine the location, amount and quality of water in the Basin, and the total supply and use area by area. With this appraisal, we would be better able to forecast future potentialities for development. A fairly adequate network of gauging'stations has been established; however, it needs to be appraised from the standpoint of overall determination of stream discharge, as well as application to specific problems. Much of the Lower Basin ground water has been studied by rough reconnaissance. Great parts of the Upper Basin are unstudied. There has been no systematic determination of chemical quality to define areas of good water or of bad water. Sedi- ment determinations, although inadequate, have pointed out a few major offender,s; for example, San Juan River contributes only 20% of the water but 35% of the sediment. These first essential studies probably will not reveal surplus water, but should help to minimize over-development or faulty development. ~ -35-