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001805 Increased use of water-measuring devices and development of new measuring meters will aid in future efficient use of irrigation water. The acceptance to date in our area is slow but such devices have proved to be an added tool to avoid excessive water applications, There is a very definite need, in my opinion, for engineers to develop a quick, easy, accurate measuring device for gate flow, Such a device could do much to reduce overwatering some rows and underwatering others. In setting gated pipe openings, a tremendous variation results from size of opening, pressure, etc. A more definite, accurate, quick test will likely be developed in the future to determine the amount of water in the soil rather than probing and guessing, Two: Reduction of Evaporation. Figures have been quoted indicating that some 65 to 70 percent of all the rainfall received in Kansas is lost by evaporation. If this loss is true for rainfall, much of our irrigation water pumped to the surface must also be lost through the same means, I bel ieve more underground-irrigation-pipel ine use is forth- coming. Such pipelines el iminate open ditches and reduce evaporation losses, even though the reduction may be small, They further reduce deep-percolation losses which, of course, are assumed to eventually re-enter the underground water supply, Underground pipel ine use would be accelerated by cheaper materials and installation techniques, We have not made maximum use of winter irrigation yet and winter is a period when evaporation losses are lowest. Probably the greatest contribution to reducing water losses from evaporation will be made by applying chemicals to the soil or to plants. Three: I bel ieve there wi 11 be plants developed through research that are more efficient water users, Measurements at Akron, Colorado, in 1914 indicated that alfalfa plants use about 858 pounds of water to produce one pound of hay. Wheat---505 pounds of water to produce Corn----372 pounds of water to produce Sorghum-271 pounds of water to produce pound of dry matter. pound of dry matter, pound of dry matter, Future basic research will likely convert the characteristics of one plant that make better use of water to another and still maintain production, thus reducing water needed to produce an equal quantity of dry matter. 11.