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<br />001295 <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />But in Ce ntral Arizona, the great economic heartland of the State, only <br />about 1,000,000 acre-feet of surface water is available annually, while total <br />use simply to maintain the existing economy amounts to approximately 4,500,000. <br />This means that close to 3,500,000 acre-feet are produced by ground water <br />pumping, and the cost of this water is high. Since no irrigation district in Central <br />Arizona has enough surface water to fill more than a part of its needs, the cost of <br />pump water is a conservation factor for all users. <br /> <br />Throughout the Central part of the State the average cost of drilling and <br />equipping a deep well (drilled to 1,000 feet or more) is about $50,000. All <br />factors considered, the cost of lifting water from 300 to 450 feet (an all too <br />common lift in this area) is from $12.00 to $18.00 per acre-foot, according to <br />the University of Arizona and other agencies. Thus, a full supply of four acre- <br />feet costs the farmer from $48.00 to $72.00 per acre under these conditions. <br /> <br />$75,000,000 FOR WATERSHED MANAGEMENT <br /> <br />In 1956 the Arizona Water Resources Committee was organized by a <br />group of citizens to promote more efficient management of the State's vital <br />watersheds. In the same year a Watershed Management Division was established <br />in the State Land Department. Working primarily with the U. S. Forest Service, <br />and with other State and Federal agencies, an extensive research program was <br />undertaken to determine the feasibility of improving watershed efficiency by means <br />of manipulation of vegetative types. This research culminated in 1965 in a con- <br />tract between the Salt River Project and the U. S. Forest Service for a watershed <br />improvement program on 7,500,000 acres. It will cost approximately $75,000,000 <br />over a 25-year period, and it is expected to result in an increase of water supply <br />by at least 200,000 acre-feet annually. <br /> <br />Yes, Arizona irrigators conserve water and use it efficiently. They have <br />to, in order to stay in business. They inspire and demand continuing water use <br />research. They are quick to apply better water management practices at great <br />expense. Improvements can still be made, and when they can be they will be, <br />because saving water is the way of life in Arizona. <br /> <br />MUNICIPALITIES <br /> <br />Outside of Phoenix and its neighboring cities and towns located on lands <br />included in the Salt River Project, nearly all of Arizona's municipalities depend <br />totally on pumped ground water. This includes the City of Tucson, the State's <br />second largest city, which has no available source of surface water, Even <br />Phoenix, however, produces about 40% of its water supply by pumping ground <br />water. Of the 70 cities and towns in Arizona having a population of 1,000 or <br />more, 59 are completely dependent on pumped ground water. <br /> <br />Under the law of prior appropriative rights to the use of surface water in <br />Arizona, the established right of use is inseparable from the land for which it was <br />