Laserfiche WebLink
<br />, <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />001293 <br /> <br />feasible means of a higher economic use of all treated effluent fram the Phoenix <br />and Tucson systems. <br /> <br />To eliminate the current overdraft upon irreplaceable ground water, and <br />provide for increased municipal and industrial needs by the year 2000, Arizona <br />needs an additional 3,000,000 acre'--feet annually. Even with this quantity, no <br />agriccI! tural expansion would be pos sible. <br /> <br />SAVING WATER IN ARIZONA <br /> <br />Arizona must have at least an additional 3,000,000 acre-feet of water <br />annually if the current rate of overdraft on ground water reserves is to be elimi- <br />nated, and if conservatively estimated municipal and industrial needs by the <br />year 2000 are to be met. This figure makes no provisions for any agricultural <br />expansion. <br /> <br />The need will exist despite everything that is being done or can be done to <br />conserve presently available supplies. Intensive programs to conserve water and <br />to use it efficiently have produced significant results and will continue to do so <br />in the future, but by no stretch of the imagination can Arizona's great and growing <br />water deficiency be solved alone by conservation of presently available water <br />re source s . <br /> <br />Of necessity, Arizona has great interest in the conservation of water, and <br />has an impressive record of achievement. Some highlights of that record are <br />presented here. <br /> <br />AGRICULTURE <br /> <br />As in all Southwestern and Northwestern states, more than 90% of Arizona's <br />annual water supply is used by farmers to irrigate crops. Even so, the supply is <br />so limited that only a little more than one million acres are irrigated. <br /> <br />Generally speaking, Arizona farmers are among the most efficient irrigators <br />in the world. Nationally the average efficiency for irrigation water is about 30%. <br />Many Arizona farmers obtain an average of 70% or better, and technicians of the <br />Soil Conservation Service, the Extension Service and irrigation districts devote <br />full time to improving irrigation efficiencies which generally are above the average <br />for the nation. <br /> <br />DITCH LINING CUTS LOSS <br /> <br />Large amounts of water can be lost by seepage and weed growth in unlined <br />farm ditches. Of the approximate 12,000 miles of farm ditches in Arizona, 7,672 <br />miles (64%) have been lined with concrete or put into pipe. 'This represents an <br />investment in water conservation by farmers of approximately $ 50,000,000. <br />According to the Soil Conservation Service, this reduces seepage losses by an <br />