OCR Text |
Show project estimated to cost 1.1 million dollars (Pecos sub-basin). Other projects involving principally interbasin transfer of water, water savings measures, power, and flood and sediment control are in various stages of planning but incomplete as to economic analysis and proposed financial arrangements. Irrigation Federal irrigation projects, active and author- ized, involve a total of 1,044,000 irrigated acres. About 285_,000 acres of this is in active projects for which contracts have been executed between the Government and organizations representing water users, a prerequisite to construction. Little of this acreage is new land under irrigation for the first time, which indicates in part the nature of the re- habilitation job that is going on in the basin. One Federal project, the original Carlsbad Proj- ect, begun in 1906, has been fully repaid or written off. The original cost of construction was $1,516,- 645, of which $1,141,761 was repaid by water users and $374,884, or about one-fourth, was written off by Congress. Additional works costing 4.7 million dollars are in process of repayment. Annual oper- ating and construction costs are computed at $234,326. The Rio Grande Project is the only irrigation project in which part of the construction cost is to be repaid from power revenues. The total cost of this project was 23.4 million dollars, with 8.5 mil- lion dollars allocated to power and other purposes, of which 6 million will be repaid with interest from power revenues, and 14.9 million to irrigation, of which 3.4 million is to be repaid from power rev- enues without interest. Part of the Balmorhea Project in Reeves County, Tex., has been completed at a cost of $439,373, all allocated to irrigation. Only $255,600 is subject to repayment contract; $183,773 is nonreimburs- able. The greater part of the project, estimated to cost when completed about 4.5 million dollars (1947 prices) has not yet been authorized. Because of its relatively high cost in relation to repayment ability, the local interests do not desire authorization of the project. Although the computed benefit-cost ratio is 4:1, it is estimated that the farmers could pay only one-third of the cost in 40 years. The San Luis Valley Project in southwestern Colorado has two divisions-the Rio Grande and the Conejos. Only the Conejos division is under construction.. Of the total cost of 4.2 million 314 dollars, 60 percent is allocated to irrigation and 40 percent to flood control. The Rio Grande division of this project is not yet under construction. Be- cause of changed economic conditions, a supple- mentary finding of feasibility is regarded as neces- sary before construction is begun; economic and financial data have not been fully determined. The entire cost (2.5 million dollars) of the Fort Sumner Project in east central New Mexico is allocated to irrigation. The benefit-cost ratio is computed at more than 2:1; the repayment con- tract requires an annual payment of about $4.75 per acre over an 80-year repayment period. The Middle Rio Grande Project as authorized, of which only the flood control features are under construction, is estimated to cost 71 million dol- lars, including the purchase of bonds on existing project works. Of this sum, 49.8 million dollars is allocated for flood and sediment control, 20.6 mil- lion for reconstruction and expansion of project works and purchase of outstanding bonds, and 0.6 million for recreation, fish and wildlife, and the geological survey program. Hence, only 20.6 mil- lion dollars of the total cost will be repaid. Of this amount, a lump-sum payment of 3.3 million dollars is to be made on Indian lands, and a con- servancy district is organized to make assessments against both agricultural and nonagricultural properties to repay 17.3 million dollars. Annual operation and maintenance charges are to be made against all lands in the district. The benefit-cost ratio of the entire project is estimated at about 3:1. The Valley Gravity Project at the lower end of the basin in Texas is the largest project in terms of cost in the basin. The total cost is estimated at 126.5 million dollars, of which 70.8 million dollars is proposed to be allocated to irrigation, 50.4 million dollars to protection from drought hazards, and 4.3 million dollars to other purposes. The allocation to drought hazards would be an outright subsidy, difficult to justify. The benefit-cost ratio is esti- mated to be about 4.5:1. Only the allocation to irrigation will be repayable and presumably chiefly from the water users, although surplus power above pumping requirements may provide some revenue for this purpose. However, no costs are allocated to power. Flood Control Flood control projects in the Rio Grande Basin, under construction or authorized, have an estimated |