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Show Projects completed........ Projects under construction Projects authorized....... Projects authorized in 1950. Total.............. Annual charges $7,873,600 59,121,000 11,453,100 2,906,700 Estimated annual benefits $10,594,100 88,304,500 15,167,600 3,818,200 $81,354,400 $117,884,400 Ratio, benefits to costs, 1.45 to 1. Source: Corps of Engineers. In July 1950, the following estimates of cost allo- cation were made by the Corps of Engineers, De- partment of the Interior, and Department of Agriculture. Irrigation................. Power.................... Flood control and navigation. Municipal water........... Soil conservation and im- provement............... Small water course stabiliza- tion .................... Forest and range land im- provement............... Agricultural land drainage .. Extension education........ Research and investigation .. Supporting credit.......... Soil surveys and land classi- fication ................. Total. Corps of En- gineers * Millions of dollars 190 520 1,143 1,853 Bureau of Recla- mation Millions of dollars » » 2,194 329 212 43.5 2,778. 5 Depart- ment of Agri- culture Millions of dollars 201 1,190 1,005 464 31 60 51 30 29 3,061 1 See also preceding summary of Engineers' projects. 3 Includes irrigation pumping investment. * Private expenditure for farm development not included. 4 Federal investment only. Local government and private investment totaling 5.4 billion dollars also will be required. Table 6 shows tentative cost allocation for Corps of Engineers' projects as of October 1950. In August 1950, the Department of the Interior submitted the following estixnates of joint cost allo- cation for Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Rec- lamation projects in the basin: Million Irrigation--------------------------------$2,333 Commercial power______.________ 680 Municipal water________________ 32 Hydroelectric Power See policy problem D5 of chapter 5. Irrigation Existing Facilities and Past Projects The past cost of construction on Federal irriga- tion projects in the basin bias generally been less than $100 per acre, not counting on-the-farm devel- opment costs. However, even considering this, re- payments to date generally have been less than originally scheduled. Several million dollars of-in- vestment in these projects have been charged off. Of some interest is the financial difficulty experi- enced by projects in the subhumid area, like the Williston and Old Buford-Trenton projects, North Dakota, shown in table 7. In addition to the Federal investment in these works, farmers have borne the cost of on-the-farm improvements, which often exceeds the cost of the irrigation works. Future Works of the Missouri River Basin Project In order to arrive at average per acre cost figures for future irrigated land certain assumptions must be made. For example, costs are not stated sepa- rately for supplemental water and for water for new land. Assuming that the cost of furnishing supplemental water is about one-third of irrigating new land, and using the total irrigation cost figure of about 2.33 billion dollars, costs for supplemental water would average about $145 an acre and costs for irrigating new land approximately $440 an acre for all units in the entire Missouri River Basin proj- ect on the basis of July 1950 estimates. Estimated costs on individual projects vary from $57 an acre on one project for supplemental watei to $719 an acre on another for new land. It is ex- pected by the Department of the Interior that about 815 million dollars, or 35 percent of the total capital 188 |
