Water deficiencies throughout Iowa and other Midwest states the past 3 years have re-emphasized the importance of water to our farms and cities. Cities have had to resort to more costly means of procuring adequate water for their citizens. Farmers have been digging deeper wells, constructing ponds and hauling water to meet their domestic and livestock needs. Many farmers have started to use or have contemplated using water from streams and wells to irrigate their crops. Industries are becoming increasingly concerned with the availability of water as a major factor in locating and expanding plants.

Experience during the last 3 years has demonstrated that water problems are aggravated periodically by rainfall deficiencies. However, these periodic aggravations emphasize but do not explain the basic water problem before us. In the main our water problems result from greatly increased demands upon available water supplies. These increasing demands stem from two factors: (1) a growing population and (2) an increasing per capita consumption. These two elements of the increasing demand for water show no indication of relaxing their rates of increase.