Cadillac Desert (101 page)

The Ogallala situation is well described in the Economic Development Administration’s report and in an excellent series of articles that ran in the
Denver Post
in 1979 (see bibliography). Desertification and its potential consequences are thoroughly covered in David Sheridan’s
Desertification of the United States
and in Paul Sears’s
Deserts on the March.
Sheridan’s book, though not as eloquent, is considerably more up-to-date and crammed with information.

The Department of Agriculture’s Salinity Control Laboratory in Riverside, California, is a great source of information on salinity, its consequences, and its avoidance. A good compendium on irrigation in general is Cantor’s
World Geography of Irrigation.

Information, much of it not so up-to-date, on reservoir siltation is available from both the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Most libraries are almost devoid of literature on this gigantic problem. This section of the chapter draws heavily on interviews with Raphael Kazmann and Luna Leopold, and on Kazmann’s book
Modern Hydrology,
one of the few exceptions to the above statement.

Other important interviews for this chapter:
Jan van Schilfgaarde, Jim Casey, Daniel Dreyfus, C. J. Kuiper, Joe Moore, Steven Reynolds, Herbert Grubb, Ronnie Dugger, Mary Ellen Morbeck, Bob Strand, Wayne Wyatt, Floyd Dominy, Jay Lehr, Philip Williams, Mohammed El-Ashry, George Pring, W. R. Collier.

BOOKS

Cantor, Leonard Martin.
A World Geography of Irrigation.
New York: Praeger, 1970.

Goldsmith, Edward, and Nicholas Hildyard.
The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams.
Cornwall, England: Wadebridge Ecological Center, 1985.

Graves, John. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.” In Robert Boyle, et al., eds.,
The Water Hustlers.
San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1971.

Kazmann, Raphael.
Modern Hydrology.
2nd ed. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.

Peterson, Dean F., and A. Berry Crawford, eds.
Values and Choices in the Development of the Colorado River Basin.
Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1978.

Peterson, Elmer T.
Big Dam Foolishness.
New York: Devin-Adair, 1954.

Sheridan, David.
Desertification of the United States.
Washington, D.C.: Council on Environmental Quality, 1981.

ARTICLES, REPORTS

Adams, Daniel B. “Last-Ditch Archaeology.”
Science
83, December 1983.

Agricultural Drainage and Salt Management in the San Joaquin Valley.
San Joaquin Valley Interagency Drainage Program, Fresno, California, June 1979.

Ambroggi, Robert P. “Underground Reservoirs Control the Water Cycle,”
Scientific American,
May 1977.

“Arid West Is Trying Drip Irrigation.”
New York Times,
June 28, 1983.

“Back
to Basics:
Mining Water Deep Below Heart of Texas.”
New York Times,
July 27, 1980.

Began, Ann. “National Public Water Policy: The Colorado River.” Environmental Policy Center, Washington, D.C., August 1977.

Briggs, Jean A. “There’s no synwater industry to bail us out.”
Forbes,
March 16, 1981.

Brown, Howard. “Wellton-Mohawk.” Memorandum to Senator Paul Fannin, Library of Congress Congressional Research Service, May 5, 1975.

“Critics Call Billion-Dollar Water Project in Arizona Wasteful.”
Washington Post
(undated).

“Department of State Sells U.S. Taxpayers and Mexico Down the Drain,” Environmental Policy Institute (undated).

“Desalting Needs Reduced by Water-Savings Program.”
Denver Post,
November 20, 1978.

“The Drying Out of America.” Discover, April 1981.

Elephant Butte Reservoir,
1980
Sedimentation Survey,
U.S. Department of the Interior, July 1983.

“Ground water levels dip in 10 Oregon farming areas.”
Oregonian,
April 10, 1983.

“The High Plains: Depleting the Ogallala” (series of six articles).
Denver Post,
December 16—21, 1979.

Holburt, Myron. “The 1973 Agreement on Colorado River Salinity Between the United States and Mexico.” Presented at the National Conference on Irrigation Return Flow Quality Management, Fort Collins, Colorado, May 1977.

The Hydrologic History of the San Carlos Reservoir, Arizona, 1929—1971.
Geological Survey Professional Paper 665-N, 1977.

Jacobsen, Thorkind, and Robert M. Adams. “Salt and Silt in Ancient Mesopotamian Agriculture.”
Science,
November 1958.

Kuiper, C. J. “The Ground Water Rush of 1978.” Office of the Colorado State Engineer, February 5, 1979.

Kuiper, C. J., Floyd Dominy, et al.
Nile River Irrigation System Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.
Report of the Scope Team.

“Lamm Calls ‘Water Grab’ Time Bomb in Constitution.”
DenverPost,
April 3, 1979.

Lehr, Jay H. “Groundwater—in the Eighties.” WATER
Engineering and Management,
March 1981.

LeVeen, E. Philip. A
Political-Economic Analysis of the Prospects for Irrigated Agriculture in California,
Berkeley, California, November 1984.

—. “Toward a New Food Policy.” Public Interest Economics—West, Berkeley, California.

“Losers all around in irrigation battleground.”
Fresno Bee,
November 25, 1984.

“Mexico Won’t Pay for Texas Oil Spill Mess.”
San Francisco Chronicle
(undated).

The 1964 Sedimentation Survey of Boysen Reservoir, Wyoming.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, November 1965.

“Ogallala Overdraft Could Start Big Battle over Rescue Strategies.”
World Water,
September 1982.

Pillsbury, Arthur F. “The Salinity of Rivers.”
Scientific American,
July 1981.

“Plans to Hold Down Colorado River’s Salt Content and Avoid Irking Mexico Are Hit by Rising Costs.”
Wall Street Journal,
June 21, 1979.

“The Price of a Sweet River.” Boston Globe, May 27, 1979.

Rates of Sediment Production in Midwestern United States.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Washington, D.C., December 1948.

“Representative Brown Calls Colorado River Desalting Plant ‘Boondoggle,’ Fights to Halt Project.”
Los Angeles Times,
May 8, 1979.

Rhodes, J. D., and R. D. LeMert. “Use of San Joaquin Valley Saline Drainage Waters for Irrigation of Cotton.” USDA Salinity Control Laboratory, Riverside, 1981.

Risser, James. “Worse Than the Dust Bowl.”
The New Farm,
February 1983.

“Running Dry: Huge Area in Midwest Relying on Irrigation Is Depleting Its Water.”
Wall Street Journal,
August 6, 1980.

Russell, Dick. “Ogallala—Half Full or Half Empty?”
The Amicus Journal,
Fall 1985.

S. 496, “A Bill to increase the appropriation ceiling for title I of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act.” U.S. Senate, February 22, 1979.

Sedimentation Report of Buffalo Bill Reservoir, Shoshone Project.”
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, May 24, 1949.

Sedimentation Study, Glen Canyon Dam, Colorado River Storage Project,
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, May 1962.

“Seventy-six Tons of Tomatoes per Acre with Subsurface Trickle Irrigation.”
USDA Agriculture Research Service News,
November 4, 1982.

Shaw, Gaylord. “The search for dangerous dams: a program to head off disaster.”
Natural History.

Shoji, Kobe. “Drip Irrigation.”
Scientific American.

Skogerboe, Gaylord V. “Agricultural Impact on Water Quality in Western Rivers.” Department of Agricultural Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.

“SPLAT! Clements belly-flops over Arkansas water.”
Texas Monthly,
May 1981.

“State’s Bold Plan to Create Power, Drinking Water.”
San Francisco Chronicle,
August 14, 1984.

Sudman, Rita Schmidt. “Salt in the San Joaquin.”
Western Water,
May/ June 1982.

Texas Observer, 1966-1981. (Author’s note: Most of the material relating to the Texas Water Plan was gleaned from excellent reporting in this publication over some fifteen years. Unfortunately, this file was lost or misplaced. However, the
Texas Observer
maintains a good index for those who wish to read more about water and Texas. Reprints of many issues are available.)

Theodore Roosevelt Lake
—
1981 Sedimentation Survey.
U.S. Department of the Interior, July 1983.

“Upper Colorado River Basin Energy Development Project Water Needs and Water Supplies.” Unpublished Interior Department Discussion Draft, May 23, 1974.

“The Valley’s Dangerous Drain Problem.”
San Francisco Examiner,
May 20, 1979.

Van Schilfgaarde, Jan. “Water Conservation Potential in Irrigated Agriculture.” USDA Salinity Control Laboratory, Riverside, California, August 1979.

“Water resource mismanagement brewing crisis.”
Oregonian,
March 20, 1983.

“What to Do When the Well Runs Dry.”
Science,
November 14, 1980.

Williams, Philip. “Dam Design: Is the Technology Faulty?”
New Scientist,
February 2, 1978.

Worster, Donald. “Water and the Flow of Power.”
The Ecologist,
Vol. 13, No. 5, 1983.

LETTERS, MEMORANDA, MISCELLANEOUS

Adams, Mark. Blue envelope memorandum to Floyd Dominy, Commissioner of Reclamation, “Tenor of comments by a few members of Texas Congressional Delegation concerning Reclamation program in Texas,” June 12, 1962.

Gessel, Clyde, and William Culp. Memorandum to Chief, Division of River Control, Bureau of Reclamation, “Sediment Deposition—Blue Mesa Reservoir Site—Curecanti Unit—Colorado River Storage Project,” March 29, 1961.

Hill, Leon. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, “Texas Water Situation,” September 1, 1966.

Mermel, T. W. Memorandum to Commissioner Dominy, “USSR Breaks Records—Earth and Arch Dams,” November 19, 1968.

Nelson, Harold. Blue envelope memorandum to Commissioner of Reclamation, “Possible Leakage, Yellowtail Reservoir,” April 20, 1966.

Oka, James N. Memorandum to Chief, Special Studies Branch, Bureau of Reclamation, “Sediment Study, Morrow Point Reservoir,” March 28, 1962.

EPILOGUE: A Civilization, if You Can Keep It

Information on the North American Water and Power Alliance is readily proffered by the Parsons Company in Pasadena, California. Background on the project was also provided by Jim Casey, Barney Bellport, C. J. Kuiper, Stanford McCasland, Derrick Sewall, Frank Moss, and Irving Fox. Derrick Sewall, Irving Fox and Moira Farrow were my main sources regarding the Canadian water situation.

BOOKS, ARTICLES, REPORTS, LETTERS, MEMORANDA, MISCELLANEOUS

“Actual Price of High Dams Also Includes Social Costs.”
New York Times,
July 10, 1983.

“Alaska to Mexico Canals Urged to Water Deserts.”
Denver Post,
February 27, 1977.

“Audits Show Unbusinesslike Management of Western Basin Accounts.” Environmental Policy Center, Washington, D.C.

“Billion Dollar Plot Alleged: U.S. ‘Wants Canada’s Water.’ ”
Vancouver Sun,
June 27, 1981.

Bocking, Richard.
Canada’s Water
—
For Sale?
James Lewis and Samuel, Toronto, 1972.

“Damage to Glen Canyon Spillways Complicates Plans for Spring Runoff.”
Salt Lake Tribune,
December 14, 1983.

Dominy, Floyd. Untitled monograph (response to U.S. Chamber of Commerce report on adverse effects of expanding government), October 25, 1957.

“Dominy Foresees Water Sharing Need After Northwest Meets Requirements.”
Idaho Statesman,
January 22, 1966.

“Great Lakes States Seek to Keep Their Water.”
New York Times,
June 13, 1982. Kierans, Thomas W.
The Grand Canal: A Water Resources Planning Concept for North America.
Alexander Graham Bell Institute, Sydney, Nova Scotia.

King, Laura B., and Philip E. LeVeen.
Turning Off the Tap on Federal Water Subsidies
(Volume I:
The Central Valley Project: The $3.5 Billion Giveaway).
Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco, August 1985.

“Next B.C. Megaproject Looms.”
Vancouver Sun,
September 29, 1985.

Pearce, Fred. “Fall and Rise of the Caspian Sea.”
New Scientist,
December 6, 1984.

Rada, Edward L., and Richard J. Berquist.
Irrigation Efficiency in the Production of California Crop Calories and Proteins.
California Water Resources Center, Davis, California, May 1976.