Revenues from power are predicated on operation of the power plants througuout the whole period from the completion of their construction to the end of the pay-out period on the last block of project lands to be brought under irrigation. Net power revenues during this period would retire the construction costs allocated to power and return $96,733,500 on the irrigation construction costs. In the latter amount, there is credited to the return of irrigation construction costs the interest paid on the power investment.

Of the total irrigation ($199,705,000), $96,733,500 would thus be returned through power revenues. It is expected that water users can make average annual payments of $5.25 per acre. Of this amount $2.91 will be required for operation and maintenance, which will leave an average of $2.34 per irrigable acre to be applied toward construction. During the recommended 50-year repayment period for water users, payments will amount to $22,436,000. Over and above these payments and the return of irrigation construction costs by project power revenues, there will remain a balance of $80,525,500 to be returned through the recommended basin-wide repayment plan.

Crooked River project.-The Crooked River project lies in the valley of Crooked River in central Oregon, surrounding the city of Prineville. The development will provide urgently needed supplemental water to 10,210 acres and a full supply for 9,990 acres now dry. Of the total 20,210 acres, 14,890 are within the existing Ochoco irrigation district. The 7,230 acres of that district included within the project which are now dry were formerly irrigated. The supply of water from Ochoco Reservoir, which was built by the district, proved inadequate, however, and the area served was reduced from the original 22,000 acres to 8,500 acres. Even the reduced area cannot be provided with an adequate water supply in years of less than average rainfall. The criteria nature of the situation is indicated by the fact that less than 10 percent of a full water requirement was delivered to the lands in each of 3 years-1930, 1931, and 1934.

A preliminary step in development of the project was taken through action by the Eightieth Congress in authorizing the rehabilitation of Ochoco Dam, which was found to be in critical condition. Work on the rehabilitation will be undertaken this summer. The rehabilitation has been considered part of the Crooked River project plan, and the costs of rehabilitation allocable to irrigation ($500,0001 are made part of the Crooked River project costs indicated below. The rehabilitation of Ochoco Dam is essential to protect that structure against failure, but the rehabilitation will not increase or otherwise change the short water supply which has been available to the district in the past.

The Crooked River project thus is required to provide the supplemental water needed on lands now irrigated and to permit the irrigation of lands formerly Irrigated but abandoned for lack of water. The project also will create substantial flood control, fish and wildlife, and recreational benefits.

Essentially the project involves the extension and addition to works of the Ochoco irrigation district. Existing structures of the district will be reconstructed where necessary; storage will be provided in an additional reservoir, to be constructed on Crooked River; and new distribution works and pumping plants will be constructed to distribute the water from this reservoir to project lands.

The construction cost of the project is estimated to be $5,277,500 at current price levels. The annual benefits of the project exceed annual costs in the ratio of 3.98 to 1.0.

Benefits to flood control, fish and wildlife, and recreation will justify nonreimbursable allocations to these purposes in the amounts, respectively, of $1,163,000, $411,000, and $26,000. Water users, it is estimated, can pay annually the costs of operation and maintenance ($38,220) and approximately $34,250 toward the return of the construction costs allocated to irrigation ($3,559,000). In the 50year repayment period recommended in the Columbia River Basin report, water users thus can return a total of $1,712,500. A balance of $1,846,500 will remain for return through the basin-wide repayment plan recommended in the Columbia River Basin report and discussed subsequently.

The foregoing analysis indicates the feasibility and justification of the project as presented in the supplementary report submitted with the Columbia River Basin report. The project there presented is based on storage in the rehabilitated Ochoco Reservoir and in a new reservoir on Crooked River at the Prineville safe which would provide water sufficient only for the Crooked River project of 20,210 acres. In the covering letter of that supplementary report, however, It is recommended that in authorizing the project, authorization be granted for 94522-49-pt. 1-31

the construction of a larger reservoir at the Post site on Crooked River, 52 miles above Prineville, provided it can be shown, in a report to be submitted when appropriations are first requested for actual project construction, that certain conditions can be met.

The reason for this recommendation is the existence of a very real need for additional supplies of irrigation water in central Oregon which can be filled in part by construction of a larger reservoir on Crooked River. The need exists within an area which can be served directly from storage in the Crooked River Basin or indirectly by exchange of water from such storage. Many of the lands now irrigated in central Oregon require supplemental water. In addition, there are large bodies of irrigable land for which no water supply is now in prospect. Exploration of possible reservoirs where water could be stored to fill these needs have revealed a general lack of good storage sites.

Storage on Crooked River, in a reservoir larger than that required for the Crooked River project alone, presents one of the more promising possibilities. For such a larger reservoir, the Post site is superior to the Prineville site. Construction of that larger reservoir at the Post site will not prejudice the potential development of other irrigable lands of the Crooked River Basin above the dam site. Taking into account future requirements for such projects, storable flows at the Post site substantially exceed the requirements for the Crooked River project, downstream from the Post site.

In view of these facts, it is in the interests of optimum resource development to build a storage reservoir at the Post site in connection with the Crooked River project which will store not only the water required for that project, but also the surplus flows of the river. No specific disposition of the surplus space in such a reservoir can be made at this time, but the prospective demands and require ments for the water unquestionably will exceed the supply. The storage cost can be minimized by developing these surplus flows in a single large reservoir in conjunction with the Crooked River project. The cost of the surplus storage would be returned through repayment arrangements with water users at the time disposition of the space was made.

Authorization to substitute the larger reservoir at the Post site for the reservoir at the Prineville site is thus requested, provided it can be shown at the time when request is made for the first appropriation to be used for actual construction of the project that—

1. The plan is acceptable to the State of Oregon;

2. The plan will occasion no per-acre increase in the allocation of costs to irrigation in the Crooked River project; and

3. The benefit of the irrigation storage in the larger reservoir at the Post site which is additional to that required for the Crooked River project shall exceed the costs of developing that additional storage and of using the water for irriga tion on any of the several possible areas where it may be required.

Canby project.-The Canby project is a recommended development for the irri gation of 3,270 acres in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. The project surrounds and takes its name from the small town of Canby. Lying 20 miles from the city of Portland, the project is within commuting distance of that city and of several other smaller commercial and industrial centers of the Willamette Valley. Both the present economy of the area and the need for and purpose to be served by the recommended development reflect this proximity to urban centers.

Precipitation in the Willamette Valley permits farming without irrigation, but the almost unvarying concentration of precipitation in the cooler part of the year and the attendant virtually rainless summers place limitations upon the type and intensity of farming which can be carried on without irrigation. Grain and seed crops which occupy about one-third of the project area at present ar planted in the fall, utilize the precipitation of the cooler season, and mature in the dry summer. The combined area used for such other comparatively extensive purposes as hay crops and pasture, or left idle, constitutes more than one-third of the project area. The remaining cropland area, constituting little more than one-fifth of the project, is now used for intensive purposes including the provite tion of truck crops, tree fruits and nuts, small fruits, and flower and nurser crops. The use of some of these lands for such intensive purposes is made possiblne by irrigation. Pumping from wells, and in a few cases from streams, has provided a water supply for irrigation on several farms in the area. This supre normally is inadequate, however, and generally is used only on a part of de land in the farm.

Under the demand for small holdings on which part-time farming can be carrie on close to places of work in commercial and industrial jobs, the farm quits

1

within the project area have been subdivided into comparatively small holdings, 247 in number. The average size of ownerships in one unit of the project is only 8.5 irrigable acres, and that in the remainder is 21 acres.

The increased production needed from these small units will be made possible by irrigation. Irrigation will remove limitations imposed by moisture shortages during the summer growing season. Normal crop values will more than double. Valuable crops will be grown on lands now idle and lands currently used for such extensive purposes as grain production can be put to more profitable use and the increase in crop values will be more than seven times the annual cost of project development.

The plan of development involves the distribution of irrigation water to farms of the project area under pressure through a pipe-line system. The pressure system was adopted because it will permit the use of sprinkler irrigation which is well adapted to the type of farm economy in the area, and because inquiries among landowners during the course of investigation indicated it to be the preferred method.

The source of water for the project shown in the report is the Molalla River. A part of the flow of that stream would be diverted and pumped into a reservoir above the project lands from which distribution would be made through the pressure pipe-line system. Recently developed plans of the Fish and Wildlife Service for the fuller use of the Molalla River as a salmon-spawning stream could not be carried out with the diversion currently planned from that stream for the project. Further consideration of this problem and adjustment of the plans will be required prior to construction of the project.

The total cost of the project at current price levels is estimated at $1,074,000. The total amount is allocable to irrigation. Return of the cost in a 50-year period will involve average annual return from water users of $21,480. Annual operation, maintenance, and replacement costs are estimated at $21,572 annually. The total annual cost thus is $42,952 or $13.14 per irrigable acre. The annual repayment ability based on study of expected returns with irrigation averages $17.86 per irrigable acre. This exceeds the estimated total annuol costs for the project and indicates the prospective return to the Federal Government of the full construction costs in a 50-year period.

Annual monetary benefits of the project are estimated to be $596,000. Compared with the estimated annual cost of the development to the Nation, benefits exceed costs in the ratio of 10.64 to 1.0.

The Dalles project, west unit, Oregon.-The Dalles project, west unit, is a potential irrigation development lying on the hills and rolling country immediately behind the city of The Dalles, Oreg. on the Columbia River. The project Contains 4,530 irrigable acres, three-fourths of which is now in bearing fruit orchards, principally cherries.

The orchards were planted and succeeded for many years under the semiarid climate which prevails in the area. Those were years, however, of better than average rainfall. With drier years, and with the exhaustion of moisture in the soil by deeply penetrating tree roots, yields fell off and many trees died back. This led to efforts over a series of years to secure urgently needed irrigation water. A very small amount of stream run-off was available, but the principal supply sought was in ground water. Although some wells have been successful, and about one-third of the project area now receives some irrigation water the supply available is grossly inadequate even for this small portion of the project area. Moreover, studies of the ground-water supply led the Oregon State engineer to conclude as early as 1946 that additional rights to ground water could not be granted without overappropriation of the available supply. Consequently, permits have not been granted for the wells more recently drilled. The remedy for this situation, recommended after careful consideration of alternative plans, is to pump water onto the project lands from the Columbia River. The plan of development recommended involves an electrically powered pamping plant to raise water from the Columbia River and force it through a steel-pipe distribution system under pressure. Application of the water will be made by sprinklers. This efficient method of irrigation will minimize the amount of water which it will be necessary to pump from the Columbia River. Arpileation of water by sprinklers also will be essential to prevent erosion of the comparatively steep slopes on which many of the existing orchards have been anted. The pumping lift from the river to an equalizing reservoir above the project lands will be against a maximum head of 947.5 feet.

The estimated construction cost of the project at current price levels is $2,573,000, all of which is allocable to irrigation. The average annual reimbursable construction cost over a 50-year repayment period will thus be $51,460. Annual operation and maintenance costs are estimated at $63,324. The total annual cost is thus $114,784 or $25.34 per irrigable acre.

Repayment ability based on analysis of prospective returns under irrigation is approximately $30 per acre. This exceeds the estimated average annual charges of $25.34 per acre and indicates that return of the total cost of the development to the Government is in prospect within a 50-year repayment period.

The annual monetary benefit of the development is estimated to be $876,000. Compared with the estimated annual cost of the development of the Nation, the ratio of benefits to cost is 6.21 to 1.0.

Vale project, Bully Creek extension, Oregon.-The lands of the proposed Bully Creek extension lie within the boundaries of the Vale project, which is situated in Malheur County in extreme eastern Oregon. The 32,000 acres of the present Vale project for which a water supply is available occupy the valley floor and adjoining benches along the Malheur River and Willow Creek, a tributary, Within the boundaries of this project lies a scattered acreage of nonirrigated but irrigable land, mostly within existing farm units. The proposed extension will provide an irrigation supply, either directly or by exchange, to 4,000 acres of this dry land.

Irrigation of these lands, as proposed, will increase the irrigated acreage of existing farms and thus improve the economic conditions of the water users, many of whom are now farming units too small to furnish an adequate income for satisfactory family maintenance. An alternative use of the storage water made available by the project works is as a supplemental supply to presently irrigated lands of the Vale project. This alternative may prove attractive to present water users for, with repetition of drought conditions of 1930-37, serious water shortages would develop on the Vale project. Project works will be essen tially the same whichever alternative is selected. The economic analysis of the 4,000-acre new land project provides a satisfactory approach to an economie analysis of the alternative development. Choice of alternative will be subject to consideration by project landowners subsequent to authorization of the Bully Creek extension.

The Bully Creek extension involves the construction of Bully Creek Reservoir at the Hendrix site on Bully Creek, a feeder canal to bring surplus waters of the Malheur River into the reservoir, and distribution canals below the reservoir. Construction costs for the features included in the Bully Creek extension amount to $2,846,000 on the basis of April 1949 prices.

The project is designed primarily for the storage and utilization of irrigation water. Because of the flood damage caused by unregulated flows of Bully Creek, however, the dam and reservoir are designed as dual-purpose works. The Corps of Engineers has estimated that total flood-control benefits valued at $459,700 will be obtained through use of the project works as designed. A nonreimbursable allocation of this amount is made to flood control, and a nonreimbursable allocation of $133,000 is made for the preservation of fish and wildlife. The reimbursable cost allocated to irrigation is $2,252,500.

The payment ability of water users of the Vale project has been determined to be $4 per acre, of which $3.14 is required for annual operation, maintenance. and replacement costs. The balance of $0.86 per acre ($3,430 total for the 4.000 acres) is applicable to the return of construction costs. In the recommended 50-year repayment period the total payment thus will amount to $171,500. Be turn of the balance of the reimbursable cost ($2,081,000) is to be made through the recommended basin-wide repayment plan.

Monetary benefits from irrigation, flood control, and fish and wildlife exoved the Federal costs involved in the ratio of 2.92 to 1.0.

Upper Star Valley project, Wyoming.-The upper Star Valley project is located in the basin of the Salt River, a tributary of the Snake River in western Wro ming. The project would provide needed supplemental water for 21,720 acres of irrigated land. Most of the land in the upper Star Valley project area suffers water shortages, from the middle of July to the end of the irrigation season. The upper Star Valley, over 6,000 feet above sea level, lacks favorable tempersture conditions for diversified agriculture. The average frost-free season s only 53 days, and summer frosts are not uncommon. Consequently, there is little choice as to type of farming. In view of the limitations imposed by climate the need is emphasized for the removal of the limitations imposed by lack of an adequate water supply. The annual benefits resulting from provisions 82 an adequate water supply are estimated at $276,980.

The major project works would be a reservoir on Crow Creek, with an active capacity of 24,500 acre-feet, and two main canals, one on each side of the valley, to deliver water to the existing distribution systems. The project plan involves some exchange of natural flow rights to permit irrigation of land above the main canals and to facilitate a water-conservation program.

Improvement of habitats for fish and wildlife as a result of the project would have an annual value, estimated by the Fish and Wildlife Service, of $1,780. At current price levels, the construction cost of the Star Valley project is estimated at $3,820,000. The annual operation and maintenance cost is estimated at $32,040.

Total annual costs, including those for operation and maintenance, and the annual equivalent of the construction costs are estimated at $137,000.

The total annual benefits including $276,980 for irrigation and $1,780 for fish and wildlife, amount to $278,760. The benefit-cost ratio is thus 2.03 to 1.

Of the total construction cost of the project ($3,820,000), $65,200 is allocated on a nonreimbursable basis to fish and wildlife. The remainder, $3,754,000, is a reimbursable allocation to irrigation. Water users can pay charges of $2.25 per acre annually for the supplemental supply which would be provided. For the project as a whole, the amount paid annually in water charges would be $48,870. Deducting the operation-and-maintenance cost of $32,040 (about $1.50 per acre), there remains $16,830 which would be available annually to apply on construction costs. During the recommended 50-year repayment period, the total repayment by water users would be $841,500. The balance of the reimbursable construction costs ($2,978,500) would be returned through the basinwide repayment plan.

Development and use of the storage for the project will be contingent upon the completion of negotiations now under way, leading to a compact to divide the waters of Snake River between Idaho and Wyoming.

Bitterroot Valley project, Montana.-The Bitterroot Valley project is in the basin of the Bitterroot River near the western border of Montana. The project area lies in long, narrow strips on both sides of the river, south of the city of Missoula.

The project embraces 50,000 acres, of which 48,300 acres are already irrigated. They receive inadequate supplies of water, however, and will be provided with supplemental water under this development. The remainder (1,700 acres) is dry land to be provided with a full supply of water.

Investigations of this project were initiated by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1939. Construction of the Bitterroot Valley project is needed to sustain the present economic development in the valley, which depends mainly on irrigation agriculture. Nearly half the irrigated acreage in the valley experiences frequent water shortages, particularly in late summer. This is the area to receive supplemental water under the project. The development will increase and stabilize agricultural production in this area.

The plan of development contemplates provision of storage and construction of canals to supplement and interconnect the systems which now serve most of the project area. Numerous exchanges of water would be necessary to effect an orderly distribution of water and to give a full water supply to certain lands along creeks above the canals.

The Bitterroot Valley project includes as one division the former Woodside unit. once authorized under the Water Conservation and Utilization Act during World War II, but not constructed because of delays in the formation of an irrigation district. Reauthorization of the Woodside unit under the Federal reclamation laws is sought so that the unit can be made an integral part of the Bitterroot Valley project.

The estimated current (April 1, 1949) construction cost of the 50,000-acre Bitterroot Valley project is $8.979,000. The entire amount is allocable to irrigation. Annual monetary benefits of the Bitterroot Valley project exceed costs to the Nation in the radio of 2.61 to 1.

Studies on repayment ability indicate that water users of the project can be expected to pay an average of $2.50 per acre annually. Of this amount, $1.50 is required to meet costs of operation and maintenance. The remaining $1 per acre per year will be available to help retire the construction investment. For the 50,000 acres in the project, the water users could repay in the recommended 50year repayment period a total of $2,500,000 of the total construction cost. The balance of $6,479,000 would be returned through the basin-wide repayment plan recommended in the basin report.

A plan for repayment of the project costs payable by water users would be formulated after the project is authorized and before construction is under