The Cross Section, Volume 6, Number 1, June 1959 Page: 4
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Page 4 THE CROSS SECTiON June 1959
UESTI NS
AND
Af SES
Q. How much water is an acre-foot?
A. An acre-foot of water is the amount
required to cover one acre of land a
foot deep, or 325,872 gallons.
Q. How is the High Plains Under-
ground Water Conservation District
financed?
A. By an ad valorem tax collected
from the property owners within the
Disrtict boundaries. The tax rate is
5 cents on each $100. valuation.
Q. From where does the underground
water which is found beneath the
southern High Plains receive replen-
ishment?
A. From precipitation that falls in the
local area and percolates downward
to the underground water table.
Q. At what rate of speed does the un-
derground water in the southern High
Plains move under natural conditions?
A. Leading hydrologists estimate that
it moves at a rate of approximately 300
feet to 500 feet per year, depending
upon the transmissibility of the for-
mation.WELL DRILLING STATISTICS FOR MAY
During the month of May, 158 new wells were drilled and registered with the
District office; 33 replacement wells were drilled; and 13 wells were drilled that
were either dry or non-productive for other reasons. 114 permits were issued
by the County Committees.
The permits issued and wells completed for May follow by Counties:
Permits New Wells Replacement Dry Holes
County Issued Drilled Wells Drilled
Armstrong 0 0 0 0
Bailey 10 4 1 0
Castro 10 10 3 0
Cochran 7 12 1 1
Deaf Smith 13 6 1 0
Floyd 10 17 3 1
Hockley 11 32 4 4
Lamb 9 20 2 3
Lubbock 8 22 9 3
Lynn 1 14 0 1
Parmer 16 18 9 0
Potter 0 0 0 0
Randall 19 3 0 0Total 114 158 33 13
- ' / I - ,
S, I
Q. How much money is an acre-foot
tof water worth to the individual user
ain the southern High Plains?
A. That depends on the use to which
the water is put. Agriculturally, it is
estimated that an acre-foot of water
ts worth $10.13 in additional income
over dry land farming if applied to
grain sorghum or will result in an ad-
ditional $62.88 if used in the produc-
tion of cotton.
Q. When was the first irrigation well
put down in the southern High Plains?
A. In Hale County during the year
1910.
Q. Is there any water below the Ogal-
lala formation in the High Plains?
A. Yes. However, for the most part,
the water contained in formations be-
low the Ogallala formation in the High
Plains is either highly mineralized or
is salty.
Q. How much fresh water is in stor-
age beneath the Texas High Plains?
A. Approximately 300 million to 400
million acre-feet.NSERVATION
A/C\N'ER CONVERSATION
With the irrigation of growing crops
just around the corner, the subject of
whether to water every furrow or
alternate furrows will be considered.
The practice of irrigating alternate
furrows has been on the increase par-
ticularly in the southern counties of
the Water District due to decreased
well outputs.
The Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion at Lubbock has released a sum-
mary of three years of research on the
subject of alternate-furrow irrigation.
The data seem to indicate that there
is no appreciable difference in irriga-
tion efficiency whether the water is
applied in every furrow or in alter-
nate furrows.
The Experiment Station summary
reads as follows:
"... The land used in this test was
pre-watered in 1956 and 1957 and was
at field capacity in the spring of 1958
due to favorable rainfall.Method of Irri
Application is
Alternate furrow
Every furrow
Alternate furrow
Rainfall, Inches
during, growing seasonCotton Lint
p. Water per acre
In.Per acre 1956 1957 195_8
4 456 463 593
4 456 492 557
2Editorial-
(Continued from Page 1)
uses have ceased to be reasonable or
beneficial. Even after having been
granted the right to use certain wa-
ters of the state, the permit holder
could still not be assured that his sup-
ply of water would not be taken from
him.
It can readily be seen that by vest-
ing such broad powers in a five-man
Commission that anything could be-
fall our State. To b a s e a priority
of water on a criterion of most
beneficial use and to allow the deter-
mination of beneficial use to be made
by a five-man Commission, the future
of any particular business in our state
might well depend upon the prevail-
ing moods of this Commission.
Emergency powers of the act out-
lines procedure which gives the Com-
mission the privilege of establishing
rules which could prohibit the use of
the State's water resources. The Com-
mission could, under these same emer-
gency powers, authorize any state or
local governmental agency to enter
upon public or private lands and re-
move any amount of water necessary
to protect the public health, safety and
welfare. In times of emergency the
Commission shall give preference to
uses of water initiated prior in time
unless by the election of the Commis-
sion it determines that such a prefer-
ence might impair or be detrimental"For the three year period of study
the application of two acre inches of
water, irrigating every other row,
once during the summer, produced
slightly more cotton per inch of water
than irrigating every row of cotton
which required 4 acre inches of water.
In 1956 when the distribution of rain-
fall during the summer was less fav-
orable irrigating every row gave more
efficient use of water. On the other
hand, in 1957 and 1958 with more
favorable summer rainfall the reverse
was true.
"Under conditions of limited water
irrigation of alternate rows during the
summer offers the opportunity of
more timely application at critical
perio s of crop growth.
"T e application of 4 acre inches in
alternate furrows did not increase the
yield of lint produced per inch of wa-
ter. Moreover, it was very difficult to
apply this amount of water in the
average water furrow during the sum-
mer. Apparently, the cotton plant can
use the same amount of water equally
well whether it is applied in every
row or in alternate rows."386 448 544 PLEASE CLOSE THOSE
ABANDONED WELLS ! ! I
4.42 7.19 4.54to the public interest in the utilization
of the State's water resources.
The Commission would have auth-
ority to pass rules and regulations pro-
hibiting the pollution of waters of the
state.
A breakdown of this model water
use act, which has been introduced to
Texas for study and comment, is pub-
lished to show "The Cross Section"
readers how some people think and
a view of things with which we will
assuredly be faced in time to come.
Because of a rapidly increasing trend
toward centralized control, it is most
important that each of us as indivi-
dual water users manage our water
carefully and use every gallon that we
pump to produce income. It will be-
come increasingly important in the
future for us to be able to point to our
area and be able to say that our prob-
lems are cared for adequately and that
we do not have need for a centralized
agency dictating policy to us. We have
definite individual responsibilities in
seeing that our water is managed pro-
perly and not wasted. We cannot ex-
pect to continue to exploit the water
resources of our area and at the same
time expect to retain private owner-
ship of these resources.
Let's look at the problem realistical-
ly. Either we're going to take care of
this underground water upon which
we are most dependent, or else some-
one will do it for us. We cannot have
our cake and eat it too.sexej. '>poqqn-
4GO'4S LMauOOesi g-8?91
L 'ON 4mia4sa uo!4eaaesuo:
-e4eM punodBjepun suiefd 46!H4!Wuad sseI PuoeS
Page 4
T HE CR O SS SE CT IO N
June 1959 0
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158
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High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 6, Number 1, June 1959, periodical, June 1959; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1532811/m1/4/?q=%22~1%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.