The Problems of Irrigation

Water is the "life blood" of the land. Without it, the land will not produce food and fiber for man and animals. The land receives abundant water through precipitation in many areas of the world, and the land produces. Other areas are barren because the land receives essentially no water. Still other areas produce a sparse vegetation because of inadequate water. Irrigation is the practice of transferring water from areas of plenty to areas of need to snake larger areas of land produce food and fiber. In the Western U.S. snow accumulates in the high mountains on rocky peaks where there is no soil. It also accumulates on timbered slopes and on mountain meadows in amounts excessive to need. During the spring and summer this snow melts, continually feeding streams and rivers that transfer the water towards the ocean. En route the water passes through areas where the land needs water to produce. Man diverts part of this water to the land — the process of irrigation