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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Both types 01" ,rater, ground and surface, are used in tllis area. <br />Ground ,later developments, <lhich have e},.1,anded rapidly since the close of <br />Horld Hal' II, totalecc 560,470 acres in 1950. The acreage served by surface <br />water has not e~)erienced lauch change in recent years. The 22,078 acres <br />irrigated from surface sources in 1950 are some<lhat higher than that of <br />recent years. The increased acreage is due to an increase in the project <br />at Hichita Falls, however, reference to Table 4 indicates that no particu- <br />lar significance can be attributed to this increase in irrigated acreage. <br /> <br />The conditions under which irrigation is practiced dif1"er <br />sharply in different parts of the dl'ainage basin. Consequently, the basin <br />is divided into three areas within 'lhich conditions tend tm1arcl sir.rl.larity: <br />MllIely, the High Plains portion, Hichita County Water Improvement Districts <br />Has. 1 and 2, and the Rolline; Plains portion of the basin, exclt!sive of the <br />Hichita Falls Project. The area included in t11ese subdivisions is shown <br />in Figure 1. <br /> <br />A. Hivh Plains Portion of Red River Draina~e Basin <br /> <br />This subdivision include"s the High Plains portion of tile Red <br />River Drainage Basin lyinG west of the High Plains escarpment (see Fig. 1). <br />It comprises a broad smooth plain that slopes east and south. <br /> <br />Elevations range from slightly over 4,000 feet in the 11est to <br />about 2,700 feet in the southeast. The topography is smooth to gently <br />undulating, llith the strongest slopes eonfined to the borders of the <br />shallow drainage \lays and tho plain top depressions or Imt weather lakes. <br />These depressions or lakes average abeut ono to the square mile and are <br />usually bordered by smooth slopes with ,,'1'adients ranging up to :3 percent. <br /> <br />Avorage anmlal precipitation ranges from about 18 inciles on thE> <br />western edge to about 21 inches in the east. Slightly more than three- <br />fourths of the annual precipitation oecurs during the; grmTing season. The <br />average length of the gro,Ting SE>ason ranges from about 185 days in the <br />e,ctreme northwest to 210 days in the CJ~reue sOl!theast. The climate of <br />the area is subhumid ,Ti th a high percentago of possible sunshine, low <br />relative humidity, and strong wind movE>lilents, par.Gicularly durinc the late <br />fall and early spring months. <br /> <br />The 0.1'00. delineated here is part of the Southern High Plains <br />irrigated arE>a, llhich has e:::porienced an unprocendentod incroasE> in irri- <br />gated acreage since the cloce of Horld ~Iar II. The ,Jatar suppl~- for tho <br />Southern High Plains irrieated area is obtained from a common Ground <later <br />baGin; conseQuontly, irrigation developments in the High Plains portion of <br />tho Rod River drui!lage basin, ,lhich derive their \later supply from the <br />samo source, camot be treated separo.tcly from thoso of the rest 01" the <br />Southern HiCh Plains. Tho hydrologic f<:lctors r:rr conditions that affect <br />prE>sent irrigation and that will have a determining effect on continuing <br />er future irrigation ;)rac"Gice are cemmon throughout, irres])E>ctive of the <br />fact that three river basinB are involvccl. <br /> <br />3 <br />