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Show Appendix 3 I. Summary The pressure of increasing demands upon water re- sources and the prospect of serious shortages and other water problems have led to the present review of all phases of water resource development. Development of water resources covers a wide field involving expenditures of considerable funds. These activities include projects for flood control, irrigation, hydro power development, navi- gation, shore protection, beach erosion control, national defense, watershed treatment, soil erosion control, drain- age, domestic and industrial water supply, ground water recharge, conservation storage, pollution abatement, rec- reation, wildlife refuges, the control of disease, and im- provement of public health. Related activities include construction of highway and railroad bridges and airfields. Success in conservation, use, and development of our national water resources is largely dependent upon an adequate knowledge and understanding of the physical (including biological and chemical) and socio-economic facts involved. These basic facts are essential to sound engineering and proper economic development of these most valuable resources. The principal physical facts are in the fields of hydrology, sedimentation, topography, geology, soils, cadastral surveys, vegeta ion, and fish and wildlife. The principal socio-econoirtc facts relate to such items as transportation, markets power, production, and damages from floods and droughts and the like. The Committee on Standards for Basic Data has in- vestigated each type of basic data for its importance to resource development, its status, and its degree of adequacy for optimum resource development, as well as for possible improvements in techniques to accelerate the collection of such data and to increase their usefulness. The com- mittee recognized that needs for data are not the same for all projects and vary for different areas. Hence, no attempt has been made to establish priorities in importance or need for each type of data. Adequacy of coverage of basic data cannot be defined once and for all time to come. In considering adequacy, it was recognized that uses for data will vary as needs expand or change, and that the amount of data which can be collected will change as the science of resource surveying develops. The percentage of adequacy of coverage as given in this report for the various items is based, therefore, upon the present concepts of future needs and existing techniques for the collection of essential data. Basic data already available have permitted the de- velopment of many successful water resource projects. But many of the best dam sites have been used, and some of the most profitable irrigation projects have been established. Consequently, further development will re- quire more detailed and precise information concerning physical and socio-economic facts which formulate the basis for project and river basin development. It must be said that there are great deficiencies in the basic data required for present and further developments. For ex- ample, in the case of topography, only 25 percent of the area of the United States is covered by maps considered acceptable by modern standards. With respect to geology, only 10 percent of the area has been mapped. It is paramount that deficiencies in factual knowledge be overcome as quickly as possible. Planning and programing for the collection of essential basic data should be accomplished through further Federal and State interagency cooperation in the interest of efficiency and economy. The status of basic data has been reviewed in light of the urgency for optimum development of water and related land resources. The committee has endeavored to determine the minimum requirements for basic data so vitally needed for continued development of these resources. The committee's recommendations are de- signed to assure that such development proceed in an efficient and orderly manner and in the best interest of the present and future welfare of the American people. 325 |
