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effIcient possible use of a minimum number of pumping facil ities was superbly met by the Bureau of Reclamation. Construction work started in 1949 and the first water was del ivered in 1952. WMIDD, as a legal entity, assumed operation of the first-completed parts of the irrigation works in 19",,3. Ihe power distribution facil ities date from 1921 and wer'e taken over by the District in 1951 (see below) . Water is also provided to several small communities, through public or private municipal/domestic water distribution systems. There are also l.iterally hundreds of individual domestic turnouts providing untreated canal water to individual residences. It is the responsibi 1 ity of the user in all cases to provide adequate treatment of water prior to domestic or residential use, The District provides potable water only to the residential area adjacent to its headquarters and to several outlying District-owned residences. Water is provided for industrial uses on a temporary basis only (mining, temporary construct i on sites, etc). All canals and laterals are concrete-l ined except for 8 mIles of the main canal upstream (west) of the first major pumping pI ant. The absence of lining in this reach is recognition that the water up until this point has been flowing by gravity. and has not yet had pumping costs "invested" in it. Also, some of this 8-mile reach 1 ies below the normal depth of groundwater. Thus, rather than losing water because of the absence of a concrete I ining, this canal can actually gain water when conditions are right. As mentioned above, all irrigation water is del ivered through flow-measuring devices, either constant head orifices, propeller meters, or broadcrested weirs. Recovered groundwater does not constitute part of the irrigation del iveries made through District faci I ities. In the early 1970's, 3 smal I pumps were added at each of tne main pumping plants, making possible smaller incremental adjustments in the flow through each pumping plant. Primarily an energy saving "retrofit", the additional pumps also produce a decrease in unusable flows which previously were discharged to the Gila River or to the main conveyance (return flow) channel The District's water use records are computerized, primarily for the purpose of accounting, but the system has the additional benefit of improved and practically instantaneous access to water use data and problems. Development and installation of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system on the main canals has begun. One of several benefits of a SCADA system is remote control of gates and canal structures. This capability minimizes uncontrolled and unneeded canal flows downstr-eam of points of feasibl e use, thereby I imitlng discharges of unusable water through wasteways.