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-52- a portable Parshall flume and was measuring water when the rather large group arrived. The visitors seemed quite impressed with Mr. Schecter's novel way of obtaining water. f" On this same trip I found Ray Metz assisted by Mr. Maxwell, local nlanager of the Public Service Company at Monte Vista, valiently struggling to construct an irrigation well on his farm. It seems ridiculous now to look back at what they were attempting to do. They had constructed an 8 by 8 square set 6 feet high. This they were able to get down with a lot of hard work even though the water stood at but 1 foot from the surface. It refused to go any farther than 6 feet, however, so they started driving vertical 2 by 6 planks behind the curb. These would wedge so tightly in driving that only another foot was gained and the job was abandoned at 7 feet. later in 1934, Mr. Metz had a well driller put down a 63-foct well for him along the Gunbarrel Road. I think that Mr. Maxey of Monte Vista was about the first irriga- tion well contractor to start such operations in the valley. He moved over here from Fowler in the Arkansas Valley in 1929. L~ter other local well drillers got into irrigation well work and by the midjle 301 s there was a very large drilling program under way. There has been little change in the situation since then. It has grown steadily at a rapid rate. At the present time there are 640 pumps being serviced by the Public Service Company and the R. E. A. and in all it is estimated that there might be between 1,000 and 1,200 plants. Last year the twc electric power sources furnished 18,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity for pumping. That was about one-third of the total electric load for pumping from wells in the entire State. The unusually large pmver load in 1951 was caused by the extremely low river flow. The prospects for water this year are very good and it is probable that the load will be very much less - perhaps only one- tenth that of 1951. From the standpoint of power suppliers, such great annual fluctuation is highly undesirable. ~ The water table of course was lowered under the impact of such a pumping draft. From Bureau of Reclamation records I would guess that the water tabla was 1 or 2 feet lower at the end of the 1951 season than that af the previous year; under suah conditions sub-irrigation was impossible. Similar conditions have occurred before, less severe per- haps, but the water table recovered with a return of normal water supplies and that is the important thing. There is no question in my mind that the water table will bounce back this year and you can mani- pulate it as you wish. It is a mighty wonderful thing to have such an easily accessible alternative water supply to draw upon in emergencies. Its value is exceedingly great. Most of the pumping in the eastern part of the State is in areas under irrigation from surface stream flow as it is here. In nearly all such cases the water table has recovered from severe drafts in the past. There is always a reasonable assurance under such conditions that replenishment in excess of use will occur in favorable water years. It is a fortuitous situation for those owning farms underlain by gravels in which irrigation wells are possible. They can draw upon such a reservoir which, in many respects is superior to a surface reservoir, whenever they wish.