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Show Irrigation Present Situation Approximately 5 million acres are now under irrigation. Ninety percent are private or State projects and 10 percent Federal. Most of the irrigated acreage is concentrated in a comparatively few areas, much of it near the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The largest areas are the Colorado Piedmont from Denver to Fort Collins (approximately a fifth of the total acreage), the Big Horn Basin, scattered lands along various streams in Montana, along the North Platte near Scotts Bluff, Nebr., along the South Platte from Fort Morgan, Colo., to the Nebraska State line, and along the Platte River in Nebraska from Ogallala to Grand Island. There are numerous scattered irri- gated lands along many of the western streams. About half of the irrigated lands need additional water, or the facilities need rehabilitation. There is practically no irrigated land in the east- ern half of the basin, except along the Platte River. Hay and sugar beets are the two leading irrigated crops. In some parts, fruits and vegetables are im- portant. In some sections hay is almost the only irrigated crop. Sugar beets furnish an important source of cash income and the pulp is used to fatten livestock. Projects Under Construction and Being Planned The Department of the Interior does not refer to the various irrigation construction units going for- ward in the Missouri as projects. The Bureau of Reclamation regards the entire program for the Missouri Basin as a single project and the individual construction jobs as units of the project. In keep- ing with terminology accepted elsewhere by this Commission the Bureau's "project" is considered a "program" and its "units" as projects. At present, 27 units are under construction. As of June 30, 1949, these separate projects had fur- nished supplemental water to 2,600 acres and no new land had been irrigated. Eventually, water will be furnished to 432,000 acres of new land and supplemental water to 75,000 acres now irrigated. Power will be developed at some of these projects; 121,000 kilowatts capacity is expected by 1954. Five units are being built in Wyoming, six in North Dakota, three in South Dakota, eight in Montana, three in Colorado, two in Nebraska, and two in Kansas. Some are in two States. The Colorado-Big Thompson Project is to deliver water from the headwaters of the Colorado River through a 13-mile tunnel under the Rocky Moun- tain National Park to irrigate land in eastern Colorado. All units of the Missouri Basin Project are author- ized. Thirty-one units are ready for construction. When completed, they will irrigate 2.5 million acres of new land and provide supplemental water for 250,000 acres already irrigated. Additional unauthorized projects would supply water to 2.2 million acres. As plans for these proj- ects are in initial stages, this acreage estimate may be revised sharply either upward or downward, as knowledge of land conditions increases. Situation at the End of the Program If contemplated plans for irrigation in the Mis- souri Basin are carried out (it would take some decades to complete the task) an additional 5 mil- lion acres might be made available for crop pro- duction and for assistance in stabilizing grazing. However, full realization of such a program may be indefinitely delayed. Such questions as how far into the semihumid area irrigation is needed or de- sirable, and whether or not extension of sugar-beet and potato production is in the national interest, may influence progress. Flood Control Over 6 million acres of land throughout the basin are subject to flood inundation. Most of this is agricultural land, although parts of all the larger cities are included. Expanded economic develop- ment and encroachment of structures upon these flood plains during the last three decades have greatly increased flood losses and potential flood losses. More than 200 lives have been lost and more than 250,000 persons displaced during basin floods in the last 15 years. Total damage of the 1947 flood reached nearly 200 million dollars. A re- currence of the floods of the past 10 years would cause damages estimated at 600 million dollars, according to the Corps of Engineers, in addition to those prevented by all existing flood control works. Prior to 1936 most engineering flood control works were local structures, the most elaborate being in urban areas. Local levee or drainage districts had built levees to protect some agricultural lands. 181 |
