We will be glad to have you present your statements, gentlemen, and then we will question you.

STATEMENTS OF W. A. DEXHEIMER, COMMISSIONER OF RECLAMATION; CLYDE BURDICK, ENGINEER, REGION 7, DENVER, COLO., BUREAU OF RECLAMATION; AND RICHARD T. WITMER, LEGISLATIVE DIVISION, OFFICE OF SOLICITOR, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. DEXHEIMER. Mr. Chairman, I believe it would be appropriate for Mr. Burdick and I to read our statements, which you have before you, before questions, if that is agreeable.

Mr. ASPINALL. That is agreeable unless there is an objection. Hearing none, it is so ordered.

Mr. DEXHEIMER. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am glad to have this opportunity to discuss with you the proposed Ainsworth unit, Missouri River Basin project. Unfortunately, we do not yet have a final report to submit to you, but the field studies are completed, a proposed report has been prepared, and we believe the physical plan is now firm. Mr. Clyde E. Burdick, area development engineer, of Ainsworth, Nebr., is here with me today to present the plan and to answer any questions the members of the committee may wish to ask.

The Ainsworth unit is located in north-central Nebraska in the Niobrara River Basin. The Niobrara River traverses northern Nebraska from west to east and lies approximately in the geographic center of the Missouri River Basin. In the original report on the Missouri River Basin (S. Doc. 191, 78th Cong.), no units were identified for development in the Niobrara River Basin.

A comprehensive investigation of the land and water resources of the Niobrara Basin culminated in 1954 in congressional authorization of four irrigation units, namely, Mirage Flats Extension, Lavaca Flats, O'Neill, and Ainsworth. Public Law 612 of the 83d Congress authorized these four units as part of the Missouri River Basin project and included the following proviso:

Construction of the units herein authorized to be included in the Missouri River Basin plan shall not be undertaken until a report demonstrating their physical and economic feasibility has been completed and reviewed by the affected States and approved by the Congress.

The field report on the Ainsworth unit has now been completed and has been forwarded to the affected States and interested Government agencies by the Secretary of the Interior for review.

The unit will consist of the Merritt Dam and Reservoir, the Ainsworth Canal, and various distribution and drainage works to provide service for about 35,000 acres of irrigable land. The reservoir site is on the Snake River, a tributary of the Niobrara River, in Cherry County, Nebraska, about 25 miles southwest of the City of Valentine. The maximum controlled storage capacity of the reservoir will be 68,600 acre-feet

Ainsworth Canal will originate at Merritt Dam and will flow generally eastward about 53 miles to the project lands in the vicinity of Johnstown, Nebr. Project soils are fertile, well drained, and are

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adaptable to sustained irrigation. The water supply from Merritt Reservoir is adequate and its quality is good.

The estimated cost of the Ainsworth unit, based on prices prevailing in July 1954, is $25,934,000. Economic justification for the unit is demonstrated by the benefit-cost ratio which is 2.16 to 1.

As the returns from the irrigation district will not retire the entire cost allocated to irrigation, the needed financial assistance will be furnished from other revenues of the Missouri River Basin project. The actual repayment and financial assistance will depend upon the contract with the irrigation district which is yet to be negotiated. Our analyses of the Missouri River Basin project indicate that basinwide net revenues will be adequate to pay all reimbursable costs, including those of the Ainsworth unit in a period of time well within the useful life of the works.

This is one of the more favorable irrigation units of the Missouri River Basin project, and one which is sorely needed and enthusiastically supported by the local interests. Although there are a few problems and policy questions yet to be settled, we are convinced that the Ainsworth unit will be found a worthy feature of the overall project. Mr. ASPINALL. Thank you, Mr. Dexheimer.

The committee will now listen to a statement by Mr. Clyde E. Burdick.

You may proceed, Mr. Burdick.

Mr. BURDICK. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee: the proposed Ainsworth unit is located in north-central Nebraska, in the Niobrara River Basin. Although the unit will be essentially a singlepurpose irrigation development, benefits will also accrue for recreation, fish and wildlife, and for pollution abatement.

The Ainsworth unit was authorized as an integral part of the Missouri River Basin project on August 21, 1954, by Public Law 621, 83d Congress, 2d session (68 Stat. 757). A field report appraising the engineering and economic feasibility of the unit has been completed in compliance with section 2 of that law, which provides that construction of the Ainsworth unit should not be undertaken until a report demonstrating its physical and economic feasibility has been completed, reviewed by the affected States, and approved by the Congress.

PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT

The principal features of the Ainsworth unit will be Merritt Dam and Reservoir, the Ainsworth Canal, 3 small pumping plants, and necessary laterals and drains to serve 33,960 acres of irrigable land.

The Merritt Dam will be on the Snake River about 14 river miles upstream from the confluence of the Snake and Niobrara Rivers. The dam will be rolled earth-fill and will create a reservoir having a water surface area of 2,970 acres at maximum water elevation. The total reservoir storage capacity will be 68,600 acre-feet, of which 67,500 acre-feet will be irrigation capacity and 1,100 will be dead storage. About 7,000 acres of land for the dam and reservoir will be acquired in fee title and easements will be required for some 880 acres for borrow areas. Approximately 880 acres in the reservoir area will be withdrawn from the Nebraska National Forest.

The Ainsworth Canal will deliver storage water from Merritt Reservoir to the lateral system serving the Ainsworth unit lands. It

will originate at Merritt Dam and meander eastward for 53 miles. About 44 miles of the canal will be lined with concrete to prevent seepage. The canal will be fenced and excavated slopes will be seeded to provide a sod cover for erosion control. About 90 percent of the 640 acres of land required for the canal will be subject to provisions of the Canal Act of 1890 which reserves to the Government easement and rights-of-way for such a purpose.

About 209 miles of laterals and three pumping plants located along the laterals will be constructed to serve the irrigable lands. Electric energy for two pumps will be obtained from a local REA. The third pump will require construction of 1 mile of transmission line to obtain Missouri River Basin project energy.

The estimated total construction cost for the Ainsworth unit is $25,934,000 based on prices as of July 1954. Principal features and their estimated costs are as follows:

The irrigable lands in the vicinity of Ainsworth, Nebr., extend 22 miles from west to east and 14 miles from north to south at their widest extremity. The soils in the unit are inherently fertile and lie on sands and gravel which will provide excellent drainage. They have a high water-holding capacity, are free from harmful salt and alkali accumulations, and are capable of producing sustained high yields of a wide range of crops. The surface relief is favorable for irrigation, ranging from nearly level to moderately undulating. The general slope is about 10 feet to the mile. Detailed land classification of the 33,960 acres of irrigable lands in the unit show 12,635 acres to be class 1; 10,652 to be class 2; 9,253 to be class 3; and 1,420 as class 4h. The last classification of lands will be supplied gravity water by low-lift privately owned pumps at project-constructed laterals. As this group of lands consists of widely separated small irrigable tracts, it is proposed that the landowners install their own pumps. The Federal investment to service the private-pump lands will consist principally of turnouts, sumps, and measuring devices.

HYDROLOGY

The average annual historic flow of the Snake River at the Merritt Dam site is 192,300 acre-feet. Average annual irrigation diversion of 91,500 acre-feet and reservoir evaporation of 5,400 acre-feet would leave a residual flow in the river of 95,400 acre-feet annually. A 25year operation study for the period 1928 through 1952 indicates an

irrigation shortage of only 4 percent of consumptive use requirements for only 1 year. There is no question, therefore, as to the adequacy for the water supply for the unit. The quality of the water is satisfactory for irrigation.

About 12,000 acre-feet of sediment will be deposited in the Merritt Reservoir during a 100-year period. Floods have not been a major hazard on the Snake River. In cooperative studies, the Corps of Engineers has determined that flood-control benefits would be negligible and, therefore, no firm flood-control storage will be provided in Merritt Reservoir.

Inasmuch as the Snake River originates and terminates entirely within the State of Nebraska, no upstream interstate or compact complications are foreseeable. The only active water rights that will be infringed by the Ainsworth unit are power rights at the Spencer and Niobrara hydroelectric plants of the Consumers Public Power Co. in Nebraska. The interference will be relatively small. Construction cost estimates include a sum for the subordination of these rights.

AGRICULTURE

Livestock-general crop farming predominates on the present dryland farms in the unit. About three-fourths of the farm receipts are received from the sale of livestock and livestock products. Corn, small grains, and alfalfa are principal crops. A shift in the cropping pattern is anticipated with irrigation. Corn will remain the most important feed grain crop and will utilize about 30 percent of the irrigable land. Alfalfa will increase in importance and some high cash value specialty crops will be grown. Small grains such as oats and barley will continue to be grown to some extent. It is expected that livestock will be a substantial enterprise on most irrigated farms.

Analysis has been made of the ownerships and size of farms in the irrigable area. Less than 20 ownerships comprising about 25 percent of the acreage in the unit is in large size farms which would be subject to the application of reclamation law which limits the delivery of water to a maximum of 160 acres of irrigable land in a single ownership. No insurmountable difficulties are anticipated in connection with the disposition of excess landholdings. Numerous readjustments of ownerships and farm unit boundaries abetted by the application of economic forces can be anticipated. It is estimated that ultimately there will be over 300 farm operating units under full irrigation in the Ainsworth unit as compared with about 170 operating farm units at the present time.

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Benefit-cost analysis.-Total annual irrigation benefits are computed at $1,745,300. This sum includes direct farm benefits representing increased net farm income due to irrigation of $688,500 annually. Indirect benefits representing income from the sale and processing of the increased farm production and from increased farm purchases; and public benefits representing values attributable to settlement and investment opportunities, enhancement of community facilities, and stabilization of the economy in the area are estimated to be $1,056,800 annually.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service have estimated benefits accruing to fish and wildlife and recreation at $14,600 and $4,600 respectively. Also, the Public Health Service has evaluated a benefit of $300 annually for polution abatement which would arise as a result of increased flows in Bone Creek.

Addition of an allowance for interest during construction and an economic cost for pumping power obtained from the Missouri River basin project to the estimated construction cost of $25,934.000 represents a total investment cost in the Ainsworth unit of $27,007,000. The annual equivalent costs of this investment during a period of useful life of 100 years at 22 percent interest is $737,600. Annual costs for operation, maintenance, and replacement amount to $79,600.

As shown in the following table, the benefit cost-ratio for the Ainsworth unit is 2.16 to 1. It is significant that with the use of direct benefits only, the ratio would be nearly unity, of 0.87 to 1. Therefore only a small portion of indirect benefits are required to supplement the direct benefits.

The construction costs of the Ainsworth unit have been allocated to irrigation, fish and wildlife, and recreation according to methods prescribed by recent interagency agreement on cost allocation. Only specific costs of facilities for recreation, however, have been assigned to that function. The estimated annual operation, maintenance, and replacement expenses of the unit are considered to be entirely an irrigation cost. In addition to such irrigation costs, however, the National Park Service has estimated that $1,500 annually would be required for operation, maintenance, and replacement of specific recreation facil