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Show Committee Conclusions Resolution of the Underground Water Committee, a subcommittee appointed by the Legislative Council. 1. The most urgent need is for funds sufficient for effective administration of existing statutes, which in turn requires an adequate continuing inventory of the water resources. To date the State Engineer's Office has had insufficient funds for the collection and analysis of the basic data that are essential for ground- water administration, and has had insufficient staff to administer the law even if the essential technical data were available. 2. Examination of the specific statutes pertaining to ground water has engendered considerable discussion by committee members, which is summarized in this report. However, broad discretionary powers are given to the State Engineer under the law. Many of the questions, controversies, and possible inequities under present statutes can be traced to the handicaps of insufficiencies of personnel for administration and inadequate knowledge of the physical basis of water supply. When these insufficiencies are corrected, the State Engineer will be in a position to modify rules and regulations within his powers, and to recommend such legislation as may be necessary for more effective administration or more equitable allocation of water. Accordingly no revisions of existing statutes are recommended by the committee at this time. Areas of Study In its study of the need for and the desirability of revision and extension of the state statutes dealing with the control and management of underground water in the state, the Underground Water Committee was assigned five major problems, which are set forth and discussed in the following paragraphs. Throughout its deliberations the committee recognized the close interrelated- ness of the five questions. All five problems were discussed at length in the meetings of the committee, and each committee member was then requested to summarize the discussion concerning one of the assigned problems. Fortunately - 10 - |
