Laserfiche WebLink
<br />Most of the water-resources investigations are made in cooperation <br />with States and municipalities. Funds offered by these sources frequently <br />have exceeded the funds appropriated to .,the Survey for cooperative work. <br />This indicates an expanding realization by: the people on the ground of the <br />need for basic information prior to basin developnents. <br /> <br />We all are aware of several basic' facts: (1) our population <br />increases steadily; (2) technologies are ihcreasing the per capita use of <br />water; and (3) our water supplies have no :ins.rked long-term trend upward or <br />doWnward. Apparently, then, we face conditions that may lead to water <br />shortages. <br /> <br />The average annual runoff from the Colorado River Basin is <br />approximately 7.0 acre-feet per square mile" or about one and a third inches. <br />The national average is between 8.5 and 9 ,inches; average runoff from the 17 <br />Western States is about 4.5 inches, and f~om the 31 Eastern States, about <br />15 inches. ' <br /> <br />The t.otal area of the Colorado River Basin, exclusive of the Salton <br />Sea basin, is 246,.0.0.0 square miles, or 157,.0.0.0,.0.0.0 acres. Irrigable land in <br />the basin totals 7,5.0.0,.0.00 acres, including 1,.0.00,000 acres in Mexico--less <br />than 5 percent of the basin--according to' estimates by the Bureau of Reclama- <br />tion. Less than one-half the irrigable land is now under ;l.rrigation. The <br />average annual runoff of 7.0 acre-feet per j square mile from;..,the entire bas.in <br />is equivalent to only about 2.2 acre-feetj per acre of irrigable land. There- <br />fore, when we also consider the many present and future uses for the water <br />outside the basin, by diversion from both! the upper and lower basins, much <br />concern must be given to the limited available supply in meeting the diverse <br />requirements of the region. Water is indeed a vital commodity in the Colorado <br />River Basin and will definitely l:l.m1t the agr:l.GUltural and industrial growth <br />of the region. <br /> <br />Mex:l.co shares our :l.nterest in the Colorado Rive.r. On the basis of <br />the Treaty of February 1944 and the ProtdcOl of November 1944, the International <br />Boundary and Water COIlIII1ission, United St~tes and Mexico, has authority to work <br />out problems relating to the division of [waters between the two countries. <br />A February 1945 agreement between the Ste,te and Interior Departments J;lrovides <br />in part that: <br /> <br />A. The Unite.d States Section of the Boundary and Water <br />Commission will: Construct, operate, and lIlEl.intain <br />new gaging stations as :t).ecessary on the Colorado <br />River in the boundary sfilctions and downstreem from <br />the Yuma gaging station; and on carrying facilities <br />in the Lower COlorado River area used exclusively for <br />delivery of water to Mexico. <br /> <br />B. . The Geological SUrvey will construct, operate and <br />lIlEl.intain all other stations in the United States, <br />other than those inclu.ded in paragraph A, over which <br />it now has or may later: have control, iIl.llluding the <br />station at Yuma on the polorado. <br /> <br />-6- <br />