After World War II, the rapid growth of the American economy and the almost explosive growth in population created rising demands for every commodity on the market. Increased demand for meat and meat products, especially beef, was no exception. In 1938, the value of sheep and cattle fed for market within the District was a little more than $18 million. Today, that value is at an annual rate of more than $250 million.

The market for livestock feed created by the feeding industry, plus the economic factors previously mentioned, resulted in significant changes of cropping patterns within the District.

In 1938, 195,000 acres, or almost one-third of the harvested irrigated land within the District, was used for small grain production. In 1967, only about one-tenth of the total irrigated land, or 71,000 acres, was used for this purpose. Corn acre age for grain and silage jumped 400 percent, and alfalfa hay acreage increased from 147,000 to 180,000 during the same period.

There were also significant acreage changes for other important crops not directly related to the livestock industry. For example: Sugar beet acre age decreased from 107,600 to 75,200; dry bear acreage increased from 42,000 to almost 65,000 and potatoes declined from 31,000 to 22,000 acres With the shift in crop acreage, there was also a marked increase in yields for most crops.

The use of more fertilizers, improved seed better equipment, plus improved cultivation and irrigation techniques were all factors that helped the farmer increase his efficiency.

Average yields for the major crops grown in the District increased during the 30-year period by as much as 212 percent. These crops include corn for ensilage, corn for grain, alfalfa, irrigated dry beans and sugar beets. The increased yields and the shift in irrigated acreages could not have taken place without an increased and more dependable water supply.

Development of a stable water supply was, of course, the reason for the creation of this District and for the construction of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project.

What accounts for the sharp acreage increase in some crops and the decline in others?

First, a number of crops are more adaptable to irrigation than are wheat, oats, and barley. These small grains thus were largely relegated to the rolling foothills areas. Much of this is land of thinner soils and less productive than the land to the east.

There are three reasons for the phenomenal increase in corn acreage for grain and silage:

1. The introduction and improvement of hybrid corn which matures adequately in 110 to 140 days for use as ensilage;

2. The mounting demand for ensilage by the livestock industry;

3. A new and unique arrangement between the livestock feeders and the farmers.

To fulfill his feeding requirements, the feeder contracts with the farmer to grow X number of acres of corn at X dollars per acre. With seed furnished by the feeder, the farmer plants, irrigates, and cultivates-and then he has no further responsibility. Through his own agronomist, the feeder picks the time to cut the corn for ensilage. Favoring Corn

However, corn does not require the labor needed in sugar beet production. Beet growers also contract with sugar companies but they are paid by weight and sugar content-and also must supply the cultivating and harvesting equipment, as well as the labor and seed. Another factor favoring corn is that farmers can follow corn with corn while

successive annual plantings of sugar beets on the same ground has not proven successful.

There's a twist of irony here because it was the sacred sugar beet that really developed the area. Also, corn was a dirty word only a few years ago, nationally, when the United States had a surplus.

Sugar beets were introduced in what is now southern Colorado in 1841-35 years before the State was admitted to the Union. The Great Western Sugar Co. was organized in 1900 by Charles Boettcher of Denver. Five years later there were six sugar factories in the District.

Other contract production is carried on with canneries for such vegetables as peas, sweet corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and snap beans. Moravian barley also is being grown under contract with a Colorado brewery.

The history of the once lowly pinto bean is interesting. Once a dryland crop, it was a staple of the farmer, section hand, cowboy, sheep herder, and poor city dweller of the west and southwest. During the chili and bean soup days of the drought and depression of the 30's, it was discovered that the crop responded miraculously to an occasional irrigation.

Pinto beans today are regarded as a profitable irrigated crop in the District and production is fantastic. A dryland yield of 15 to 20 bushels per acre was considered good; production under irrigation regularly ranges from 70 to 80 bushels per acre, and the beans do not require as much water per season as do corn or sugar beets.

Almost no poultry is now seen on farms in the District but the commercialized poultry business

is thriving in a specialized form. If you live in Boston, Baltimore, or Seattle, it is not unlikely your holiday turkeys, as well as your T-bone steaks, come from the land just east of the Colorado Rockies.

The availability of water-while fluctuating both up and down somewhat-has lured thousands of people and many new industries into the District.

More Uses

Although the original quest was for supplemental irrigation water, our repayment contract with the United States also specifies that the water may be used for domestic, municipal, and industrial purposes, as well as for the production of electric power.

Eleven cities now receive part of their municipal water from the project as a means of bolstering their in-basin water supplies.

Between 1950 and 1960, the population of all seven of the counties within the District increased by more than 45,000-from 207,230 to 252,300. The 8-year increase since 1960 is estimated at more than 50,000.

Certainly, there have been more dramatic population jumps in other U.S. areas, but it must be remembered that this area was formerly almost purely agricultural land that measured its success by the rain guage and not by the number of shopping centers.

Pacing the urbanization is the university city of Boulder whose population spurted from 20,000 in 1950 to an estimated 55,000 today. Boulder, Fort Collins, Longmont, Greeley, and Loveland together have experienced a population increase of 43 percent in the last 8 years-from 110,300 in 1960 to an estimated 158,000 today.

A new development since 1960 has been the formation within the District of 14 rural domestic districts or associations to which we furnish raw water for treatment and distribution as rural domestic supply.

Chief among the new industries is a huge IBM plant near Boulder with 4,200 persons on the payroll. The plant manufactures magnetic tape and magnetic tape drives. Products of other manufacturers, attracted to the area, range from plastic toys and hydroponic tomatoes to cement and aerospace components.

Few To Cities

Yes, people are moving off the farm, but few here are heading to the troubled major cities. Most have found the good life in the smaller communities where there is space to work and play. Many of the newcomers, in fact, are people who work in

It is obvious from the urban, rural domestic, and industrial growth which I previously cited that there is an attendant increase in the demand for water supplies to fulfill those purposes. Although the quantity of water allotted by the District for those uses has more than doubled since the early 1950's, nearly 80 percent of our total water supply remains allocated to irrigation usage.

To retain the greatest possible flexibility in system operation and to permit water supplies to be shifted to new and changing uses, the District adopted procedures which allow amendment and transfer of allotment contracts. Thereby a method was established which allows municipal, domestic and industrial water users to obtain project water allotments by transfer from agricultural uses.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. For 10 years J. R. (Bob) Barkley has been Secretary-Manager of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. During this time, and for 25 years leading up to that appointment, his talent and energies in water resources matters have been plied to use in and beyond the borders of Colorado. Mr. Barkley was Chief Engineer and Assistant Manager of the NCWCD for 13 years. He recently was appointed as Colorado member of the Board of Directors of the National Reclamation Association, has served in other advisory capacities of that organization, as well as with other organizations having to do with water resources in the Missouri River Basin. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Colorado.

Wrestled for years with bad water problems-now hope is on the way

During this same year the first of the wells which produce the hard water was drilled in the city. Today the wells are 1,300 feet deep, where the standing water level is at 270 feet. The pumps are set at 500 feet. Since 1958 the water table has dropped 80 feet.

In 1959, Ionics Inc. installed for Coalinga the first municipal electrodialysis plant. The plant takes the salts out of the water and softens it. making it safe to drink. This furnished enough water to meet the needs of the city-28,000 gallons a day-until the city began to grow as a result of San Luis Unit construction.

Then UCLA put the world's first municipal reverse osmosis desalting plant in Coalinga on an experimental basis, producing 10,000 gallons of good quality water a day. This method uses a series of pipes with a membrane inside the pipes. Water is forced through the membrane at high pressure, causing it to permeate the sides of the membrane leaving the salts and bacteria inside the membrane. The good water costs 7¢ a cubic foot, with a minimum of $1.75 for 25 cubic feet. Occasionally a family will run up a monthly bill as high as $350 because of an undetected leak in a pipe.