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<br />Table 5. - Irrigation requirements by evaluation areas, Florida project <br /> Evaluation areas Project <br /> A B C D to tal <br />Wei ghted average consUlllp ti ve use <br />requirements, acre-inches/acre 15.4 15.4 14.7 16.0 15.4 <br />Weighted average field applica- <br />tion efficienqy, percent 60 55 43 52 56 <br />Weighted average farm irrigation <br />effi ciencies, percent 55 54 39 47 53 <br />Farm headgate water delive~ <br />requirement, acre-inches/acre 28.0 28.5 37.7 34.0 29.0 <br /> <br />Irrigation water for the Florida project is now supplied by direct diversions <br />from natural flow of the Florida River. The river water is of a quality <br />suitable for irrigation, and estimates of irrigation losses include sufficient <br />allowance for deep percolation to permi t adequate leaching of the profile for <br />salt control. The flow of the river is quite variable. Runoff in excess of <br />immediate irrigation requirements occurs during the spring snow~elt period. <br />Streamflow diminishes during the late summer until it is inadequate to supply <br />the crop requirements for irrigation water. There is no reservoir in which <br />to store excess spring runoff water until needed. Total annual runoff from <br />the river is more than adequate in most years to furnish a full water supply <br />to all the present farmlands and the proposed new lands within the project <br />area. <br /> <br />Delivery of irrigation water to the farmlands is now made by means of a <br />complex network of some 74 diversions and ditches or canals. Of these, two <br />major systems serve most of the lands on Florida Mesa which make up evalu- <br />ation areas A, B, and C. The remaining canals or di tches generally serve <br />small areas of the valley lands comprising evaluation area D, often a <br />single farm. Di stribution of water is lIBde in accordance wi th an intri cate <br />system of water rights. Frequently, both senior and junior water rights <br />overlap the same parcel of land. Occasionally, individual farms include <br />several water rights with wide differences in seniority. <br /> <br />As a result, parti cularly on the mesa lands, there has been a wide range <br />of adequaqy of water supplies in different parts of the area. The 12,530 <br />acres presently irrigated on the mesa can be generally subdivided under <br />wi thout project condi tions into two levels of water supply. These lands <br />are not necessarily physically separated, but instead are frequently inter- <br />mingled in accordance wi th the pattern of ownership of the various water <br />rights. <br /> <br />- 14 - <br />