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<br />in <br />c <br />N <br />.-t <br />C. <br />C <br /> <br />Water Rights <br /> <br />21. The right of the Joseph City Irrigation Company to the use of <br />waters of the Little Colorado River has not been adjudicated. The <br />company, however, holds that it has a right prior to all other diversions <br />and appropriations on the stream, claiming that its early settlers were <br />first to make beneficial use of the Little Colorado River water and first <br />to file for its use. The area has made continuous beneficial use of <br />Little Colorado River waters since 1876. <br /> <br />Groundwater Supply <br /> <br />22. Groundwater is present in the Coconino sandstone formation <br />which underlies the project area and the vicinity. In much of this general <br />area it is under artesian pressure and on the south side of the river <br />between Joseph City and Holbrook many wells flow. Ten of these wells, <br />owned by the Joseph City Irrigation Company, discharge about 2.3 <br />cubic feet per second. In 1947, 62 wells were found between Joseph <br />City and Holbrook which were used for various purposes from irrigation <br />to domestic and municipal supply including the supply for the growing <br />town of Holbrook. The Geological Survey reported that there were 24 <br />flowing wells and 12 pumped wells in the general area used for irri- <br />gation in 1946 which yielded 4,300 acre-feet of measured flow in that <br />year. It also stated that the safe annual yield of the aquifer had not been <br />exceeded. The quality of the water from the Coconino formation is indi- <br />cated by the Geological Survey to be suitable for irrigation purposes. <br /> <br />23. In June and July of 1948, the Geological Survey, at the request <br />of the Bureau of Reclamation, conducted pump tests on a newly drilled <br />12-inch well of the Joseph City Irrigation Company, located in a <br />Coconino sandstone outcrop on the north or Joseph City side of the <br />Little Colorado River near the Penzance diversion dam, and on another <br />private well on the same side of the river about two miles to the north _ <br />west. The Survey's report to the Bureau indicates that the company <br />well produced 730 gallons per minute with a drawdown of 15 feet after <br />pumping 24 hours with a total pumping lift of 25 feet. As a result of <br />the tests it was concluded that sufficient water can be developed from <br />the Coconino sandstone on the north side of the Little Colorado River <br />to supply the entire annual irrigation requirement for the present <br />irrigated land in the Joseph City area. With the installation of larger <br />pumping equipmeI).t, the present well near Penzance could be made to <br />produce 2 to 3 times the present discharge without an excessive pumping <br />lift, and with two additional wells properly spaced (not less than 2,500 <br />feet but preferably 5,000 feet apart) and penetrating the entire thickness <br />of the Coconino sandstone, the maximum irrigation requirement could <br />be met without excessive pumping lift. <br /> <br />24. The tests on the two wells indicated that Coconino sandstone <br />is not uniform in character and is more productive near Penzance than <br />at the site of the other well tested. Additional wells therefore may <br />differ in performance from the company well at Penzance. The quality <br />of the water from the Coconino sandstone on the north side of the river <br />near Penzance is similar to that from the company's flowing wells on <br /> <br />8 <br />