Editing Irrigation (section)

====American West====
Irrigated land in the [[United States]] increased from 300,000 acres in 1880 to 4.1 million in 1890 to 7.3 million in 1900.<ref name="McNeill 2000" /> Two thirds of this irrigation sources from [[groundwater]] or small ponds and [[reservoirs]], while the other one third comes from large [[dam]]s.<ref>[[#refMcCully2001|McCully 2001]] p. 166.</ref> One of the main attractions of irrigation in the West was its increased dependability compared to rainfall-watered agriculture in the East. Proponents argued that farmers with a dependable water supply could more easily get loans from bankers interested in this more predictable farming model.<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] pp.114-15.</ref> Most irrigation in the [[Great Plains]] region derived from underground [[aquifer]]s. Euro-American farmers who colonized the region in the 19th century tried to grow the commodity crops that they were used to, like [[wheat]], [[maize|corn]], and [[alfalfa]], but rainfall stifled their growing capacity. Between the late 1800s and the 1930s, farmers used [[windpump|wind-powered pumps]] to draw groundwater. These windpumps had limited power, but the development of gas-powered pumps in the mid-1930s pushed wells deep into the [[Ogallala Aquifer]]. Farmers irrigated fields by laying pipes across the field with [[irrigation sprinkler|sprinklers]] at intervals, a labor-intensive process, until the advent of the [[center pivot irrigation|center-pivot sprinkler]] after World War II, which made irrigation significantly easier.<ref>{{Citation |title=How Center Pivot Irrigation Brought the Dust Bowl Back to Life |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-center-pivot-irrigation-brought-dust-bowl-back-to-life-180970243/ |access-date=6 May 2022}}</ref> By the 1970s farmers drained the aquifer ten times faster than it could recharge, and by 1993 they had removed half of the accessible water.<ref>[[#refMcNeill2000|McNeill 2000]] pp. 151-52</ref>

Large-scale federal funding and intervention pushed through the majority of irrigation projects in the West, especially in [[California]], [[Colorado]], [[Arizona]], and [[Nevada]]. At first, plans to increase irrigated farmland, largely by giving land to farmers and asking them to find water, failed across the board. Congress passed the [[Desert Land Act]] in 1877 and the [[Carey Act]] in 1894, which only marginally increased irrigation.<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] pp.156-157.</ref> Only in 1902 did Congress pass the [[Newlands Reclamation Act|National Reclamation Act]], which channeled money from the sale of western public lands, in parcels up to 160 acres large, into irrigation projects on public or private land in the arid West.<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] p. 161.</ref> The Congressmen who passed the law and their wealthy supporters supported Western irrigation because it would increase American exports, 'reclaim' the West, and push the Eastern poor out West for a better life.<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] pp.166-67.</ref>

While the National Reclamation Act was the most successful piece of federal irrigation legislation, the implementation of the act did not go as planned. The [[United States Bureau of Reclamation|Reclamation Service]] chose to push most of the Act's money toward construction rather than settlement, so the Service overwhelmingly prioritized building large dams like the [[Hoover Dam]].<ref>[[#refPisani2002|Pisani 2002]] p.30.</ref> Over the 20th century, Congress and state governments grew more frustrated with the Reclamation Service and the irrigation schemes. [[Frederick Haynes Newell|Frederick Newell]], head of the Reclamation Service, proving uncompromising and challenging to work with, falling crop prices, resistance to delay debt payments, and refusal to begin new projects until the completion of old ones all contributed.<ref>[[#refPisani2002|Pisani 2002]] p.152.</ref> The [[Reclamation Extension Act of 1914]], transferring a significant amount of irrigation decision-making power regarding irrigation projects from the Reclamation Service to Congress, was in many ways a result of increasing political unpopularity of the Reclamation Service.<ref>[[#refPisani2002|Pisani 2002]].</ref>

In the lower [[Colorado River|Colorado Basin]] of [[Arizona]], [[Colorado]], and [[Nevada]], the states derive irrigation water largely from rivers, especially the [[Colorado River]], which irrigates more than 4.5 million acres of land, with a less significant amount coming from groundwater.<ref>{{Citation |title=Colorado River Basin Studies |date=March 24, 2022 |url=https://www.usgs.gov/centers/utah-water-science-center/science/colorado-river-basin-studies |access-date=6 May 2022}}</ref> In the 1952 case [[Arizona v. California]], Arizona sued California for increased access to the Colorado River, under the grounds that their groundwater supply could not sustain their almost entirely irrigation-based agricultural economy, which they won.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dividing western waters: Mark Wilmer and Arizona v. California |vauthors=August JL |date=2007 |publisher=TCU Press}}</ref> California, which began irrigating in earnest in the 1870s in [[San Joaquin Valley]],<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] p. 102.</ref> had passed the [[Wright Act of 1887]] permitting agricultural communities to construct and operate needed irrigation works.<ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] p. 108.</ref> The Colorado River also irrigates large fields in California's [[Imperial Valley]], fed by the National Reclamation Act-built All-American Canal.<ref>[[#refMcNeill2000|McNeill 2000]] p. 178</ref><ref>[[#refWorster1992|Worster 1992]] p.208.</ref>