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WATER RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. The preliminary comprehensive plan outlined in this report will accomplish the irrigation of the maximum area of the state’s agricul­tural lands at the least cost, as well as provide waters for the primary use of domestic supply and leave the great mountainous area above the twenty-five hundred foot contour free for the generation of hydro-elec­tric energy, except for the irrigation of the beautiful mountain valleys, that dot these regions and the table lands in northeastern California. Their total area, however, is only one-eighth of all the tillable soil. On the other hand, much power can be generated below the twenty-five hundred foot level and above the irrigation diversions, especially at the high, dams of many of the storage reservoirs. This plan, then, outlines a scheme that will obtain the maximum service from the waters of the state and provide for all users in order of their importance to m an’s continued existence. In this plan the source of supply has been selected as close to the needy land as possible, the least expensive storage sites have been selected, and the canals have been routed over the least obstructed paths and a scheme of coordinated use of reservoirs has been included that makes it possible to attain the most efficient service in their operation. The main features of the plan are delineated on the map of California Plate IV, “ Preliminary Comprehensive Plan for Maximum Develop­ment of California’s Water Resources.” Because of the physical limits which the mountain ranges and great distances in California place on the transportation of water, bounds are placed on the areas that naturally group together to their mutual advantage quite like the bounds of the great drainage basins o f the state. The plan will therefore be described by major drainage groups. SAN FR AN CISCO B A Y D R A IN A G E . Half the waters of the state in their natural course drain into San Francisco Bay. From the Pit River, which rises in the extreme north­east comer of the state, to the Kern, three-fourths the length of the state towards its southern extremity, these waters gather into the Sacra­mento and San Joaquin rivers to join with smaller streams that empty directly into San Francisco Bay, in issuing through the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean. Within these drainage basins are 14,800,000 acres of lands suitable for agriculture. The comprehensive plan pro­vides for irrigating all but two and one-half per cent of this entire area. Only 4,260,000 acres are now irrigated in these regions. Ninety-five per cent of the 14,800,000 arable acres in these basins lies in one large continuous body of land on the floor and skirting the edges of the Great Central Valley. Sloping from elevations of five hundred feet above sea-level at the extreme northerly and southerly ends, these lands are barely higher than the sea in the central parts. W ith an extreme length of five hundred miles, the economic conveyance o f the surplus waters o f the north half of this valley to the southerly areas that are lacking in water, demands that the plan be adapted to the nat­ural topographic and hydrographic features of the area. Since seven-eighths of all the waters of these regions drain off the Sierra Nevada Mountains, there is ample for spreading on the easterly side of the valley. In the Sacramento Valley, the east side lands would be served almost entirely by gravity diversions from adjacent streams i'S|| g<5 d.&ll'S g &§?§ •so.s S S'-S § sJS 8: i g'S'S1-3 » s?H i f m § 1 g.j.| i »(§! | ^ BOp « W ® g iSsSs §-S §2 I.S! .> > 0 id PnfS'n 8 S $ . B Kaftan , ... s> . § gg -jigs,, . _ m .•M'S'5 iess.-il H K §66 as f f jSESiB s If-1 1 2 j- M E-ip n S W P Q S S Z JJZ JO W i-JC G W ra tG C G e G C Q i P jS jP jO if 5S Si vp 5^ 1P- 5h uP 1-!•1§ 11 ! §2 3 0 § S a § £ gaf §o p>>l oVj o o2 «s- ao q JS q a >-> 53'-' id 5. id ‘- i d r S c <8-^ «L si5 $ III1s'S.IJIj i a s f W s m 9 9 j •xOm 5 H i?l |l| 2| §B|o§iBl >0 o 2 g o ?Wa mmss. So I'll t-. 0u 6O 0^<0 g?S eq}*i3' S£ EgSg3 fe I M-ggalalSl-gi 1 Oo>> O 22 howJ c(poj cdfqj -ca3o nW« cj«q teoo> rtOA g '?a§^ §q 5H 0~ bS a Cc3m O Of^OldJ so gig tD Pi O m rrirv m ^ 33 > 2U > 8 ® £Offi HgS O ^<D W istSso ls’S|l !? «« S3 g 353-0 o l j . f £ ? g l f 1 1 | | | % gj 3 J f j | SOWNCO^tiOtONOO© -oooooooooocooooooooo ?5 MUm | §? 1 .•a W H es3| r| <s 0^3 go^j’o >; 8 id. m m m 8'®'® 2I 0 § 8 U s | $0* $ 5% m gA g § 25 Wrn, 2-Sn 8 SoOT^oo U ® q S b,S 2 ^ -2 ^ 2 i- 5 S31] S3 g s j f | 3 | § i § - § b 8 8 a ® 2 I s % p q 3 « 6 O ti S & W !X Q PQ O < Ph H cq f O fS aa .{63 TJ3r, 2«o | IS Ic TjUOOt-OOOOrHlNCOrftlOtONCOCnOr-