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Show In this region, however, construction of addi- tional conservation storage reservoirs, as parts of intelligent multiple-purpose development, should assure generous stream supplies far into the future. In connection with a majority of the industrial centers now drawing on ground water reserves, planning for future needs must include both sur- face and ground water resources. The East-Central Region, lying north and west of the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains, and east of the Great Plains (which extend from Montana to south-central Texas), is in general humid, with precipitation usually equal to, or greater than, evaporation and use of water by vegetation. The western fringe of the region is the only exception. With this exception, there- fore, the region has a relatively bountiful surface supply. Due to the region's geological formations, con- siderable portions of it have large ground water storage capacity. In the areas north of the Ohio and Missouri Rivers this is especially true. In fact, the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi Valleys contain stretches of permeable gravel from which large additional drafts of ground water could be sustained if recharge from the surplus waters of the rivers is deliberately induced. Such deliberate recharging is already being in- duced extensively along the Ohio River to sta- bilize certain sources of industrial waters. This recharge competes with stream supplies, but it may be the most advantageous way of using the water. If handled as part of a comprehensive plan for using all the water resources of the re- gion, the reduction in stream flow will be com- pensated for by release from upstream conserva- tion storage reservoirs. Such a possibility sup- plies an important example of the way in which water resources management can bring about the coordinated use of surface and underground reservoirs. River management problems in the region re- late chiefly to: 1. Control of floods along numerous streams in most parts of the region, but especially along the main stems of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; 2. Abatement of local contamination by mu- nicipal and industrial wastes and acid mine effluents; and 3. Limitation of sediment locally. The Geological Survey reports that additional reservoir storage is the key to most such problems, and to the easing of water shortages at some places. The current Missouri Basin develop- ment program and regulation of the Arkansas and Red Rivers will go far toward major water man- agement in the northwest and southwest parts of the region, which have the greatest deficiencies. A stimulating example of the possibility of in- cluding surface and ground water resources in a single management plan was brought to the Com- mission's attention at its conference in Fayette- ville, Ark. This will involve using a portion of the water stored in connection with the Army Engineers' plans for the White and Ouachita Rivers to make up the deficiencies in ground water due to overpumping for rice irrigation in the Grand Prairie region of that State. The Great Plains Region, extending westward from the regions already reviewed to the Rocky Mountains, is prevailingly semiarid. In many places its surface and underground water re- sources are fully developed or even overdeveloped. According to the Geological Survey:2 "Current and near-future needs can be met only by com- plete utilization of local sources, coupled with judicious development of streams that import water from mountainous areas to the West." One of the problems in this region, directly re- sulting from the deficiency in precipitation and consequent low runoff, is the potential interfer- ence between ground water and surface water developments. Another problem arises from the fact that, on the High Plains of Texas, ground water pumping is drawing largely upon waters that have been stored slowly over the ages, so the water is literally being mined without possibility of natural replenishment. At the Fayetteville conference the Commis- sion's attention was directed «to the importance of including in the multiple-purpose river basin pro- grams provision for municipal water supplies in west Texas. Such provision would be made 2 Id., p. 27. 116 |