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<br />. <br /> <br />III. NEEDS <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Water quantity and quality are the principal needs under consideration in thc project <br />area. The aridity of the environment necessitates the controlled use of water for agricultural <br />purposes, and the effective use of water for such a need is dependent upon its quality: <br />inversely. water qua~ty can be directly affected by drainage return !lows from the <br />agricultural areas. <br />A. Agricultural Water Requirements <br />A.\. Water Quantity Need <br />Diversions to the Wellton-Mohawk Division are not detcnnined by any <br />requirement for specific quuntities of water, rather they are limited by the Gila Project <br />Reauthorization Act of July 30, 1947. (61 Stat. 628) which stipulates that the Division's <br />beneficial consumptive use of water from the Colorado River (that amount of water <br />diverted less return Ilows) shall not exceed 300,000 acre-feet annually; in recent years <br />diversions for the Division have been the maximum allowable under project authorization. <br />Irrigation diversions to the Wellton-Mohawk Division are sufficient to meet the <br />needs of its present agricultural production: however, in order to meet the diversion <br />req uirements of the overall project area it is necessary that utilization of available water <br />be made in the most efficient manner possible. Return !lows from all agricultural areas <br />are very important as they supplement the river's volume for irrigation diversions further <br />downstream. The inability to use the drainage as return !low to the river system, as is <br />presently the case with the Well ton-Mohawk drainage. places a burden on the river's <br />ability to fulfill water demands. <br />In the Mexicali Valley, water for irrigation of the land west of the Colorado <br />River is diverted at Morelos Dam, a mile below the Northerly International BOlmdary, <br />and conveyed through the Alamo Canal and its branches. Waste and drainage water from <br />the Valley Division, Yuma Project, is taken across the Southerly International Boundary <br />at San Luis into a canal system which serveS land in Sonora, east of the Colorado River. <br />Mexico has developed a well field on the Sonora Mesa just south of the Southerly <br />International Boundary, east of San Luis. The well field has an existing capacity of 160.000 <br />acre-feet per year with a canal system capacity of 320.000 acre-feet per year. Water pumped <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />24 <br />