area are below those in California and Florida because of our geographical location.

Another practical problem involving the repayment of water users has been raised by Hon. Joe Kilgore at the hearing on February 10, and that is charging for riparian water. That was raised today. Riparian owners in Texas contend they are entitled to divert water from the normal flow of the river without charge. Thus, are only appropriative diverts and water users going to be assessed?

And another real problem: these districts are located some 200 river miles below Falcon Dam. Amistad Dam is 300 river miles above Falcon Dam. It is going to be difficult in keeping water released from Amistad Dam for our diverters from being diverted along the way. Mr. Mills made this point in his opening statement.

Thus, because we do not deem it economical, feasible or practical, and because our water users have reached the saturation point of paying for water distribution, we want to oppose and vigorously oppose the Bureau of Budget's recommendation that conservation charges be assessed the water users for water stored in the Amistad Dam.

Another important item to our water users, and one that we hear from water users throughout our ares, is: Will Amistad Dam diminish our already limited water supply from Falcon Dam?

We have the Texas State Board of Engineers stipulation in their approval of the project to that effect, and section 3 of H.R. 8080 recognizes that stipulation.

In order to make certain that our State authorities have full and exclusive authority, we recommend the adoption of the suggested amendment to section 3 of H.R. 8080.

Thank you.

Mr. SELDEN. Are there any questions?

If not, let me thank you, Mr. Klein, for your appearance and for your statement.

Mr. KILGORE. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Stanley Crockett of Harlingen, who is a citrus grower and is president of the Texas Citrus Mutual, has a short statement.

STATEMENT OF STANLEY B. CROCKETT, HARLINGEN, TEX., PRESIDENT OF TEXAS CITRUS MUTUAL, AND REPRESENTING LANDOWNERS OF CAMERON COUNTY WATER CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 1, LA FERIA WATER CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NO. 3, AND ADAMS GARDEN WATER CONTROL AND IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT; ALSO TEXAS CANNERS ASSOCIATION

Mr. CROCKETT. My name is Stanley B. Crockett, a member of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Water Committee. I am a farmer and citrus grower, residing near Harlingen, Cameron County, Tex. I own acreage in several water districts. My operations include the care and management of hundreds of acres of citrus, generally owned by nonresident people, and located in seven different water districts of the lower Rio Grande Valley below Falcon Dam. I am president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a grower organization that represents a majority

of our citrus acreage and numbers over 2,000 members. All of the acreage is located in a four-county area, below Falcon Dam, and is dependent on the Rio Grande to supply the needed water for irrigation. Our citrus investment in the lower Rio Grande Valley is estitimated to exceed $100 million, and calls for the expenditure of over $10 million annually to care for water and maintain said properties. I am appearing here today representing myself as a farmer, citrus grower, and citrus property manager. Also I am appearing in behalf of the landowners of Cameron County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1, composed of approximately 40,000 acres. Also, I am representing the landowners of the La Feria Water Control and Improvement District No. 3, consisting of approximately 32,000 acres and Adams Garden Water Control and Improvement District, composed of 8,500 acres.

I also represent and speak for the Texas Canners Association, with 26 plants located in the lower Rio Grande Valley area below Falcon Dam. These canning plants are engaged in the processing of fruits and vegetables that are distributed throughout the world. A sizable quantity of our processed food annually is purchased by our Government and used for our Armed Forces throughout the world. Our processing plants are very vital to the entire defense program.

As a result of my 41 years' experience in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas as a farmer and businessman, I believe I am qualified to present to you the problems which confront those of us engaged in agricultural pursuits.

We reside in an arid region, and a supplemental supply of water from the Rio Grande is necessary for crop production and the maintenance of life in the area. Over a period of years I have experienced the loss of crops and permanent damage to citrus trees from time to time, due to the lack of sufficient water from the Rio Grande. Such periods of drought cause heavy losses to our cotton, vegetable, and grain farmers, and especially heavy losses to our citrus growers.

I think it is well to mention some of the other hazards and problems we have in production of food and fiber in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and how very dependent we are on a firm supply of water to carry on with our agricultural endeavors.

Almost overnight in 1949 and again in 1951, we lost over 11 million grapefruit and orange trees, leaving us with slightly over 3 million Our annual production was cut from 28-million-plus boxes to 250,000 boxes. At this time, we are replanting our citrus acreage to produce a crop so vital to our Nation's economy. Our production should be approximately 9 million boxes this year, and should increase rather rapidly if we have a sufficient supply of water from the Rio Grande.

I think it is well to mention that our farmers have a sizable investment in citrus acreage, and it requires a sizable investment to grow and plant citrus, then bring it into production. The cost of trees and the care, not counting land cost, runs to approximately $600 per acre to get an orchard into production. Bear in mind, if you will, please, as we get more of our tillable land into citrus-a crop that does not have a Government price guarantee-we have less land for the production of cotton, grain, and vegetables or surplus crops that cost the taxpayers money. This shows how very vital a depend

able supply of water is to our economy, a very vital part of our Nation's agricultural program.

Citrus groves generally require four to five irrigations annually, with 4 to 6 inches of water applied each time, depending on soil type. In other words, with delivery losses, each acre in citrus calls for 3 acre-feet of water, or approximately 978,000 gallons annually per acre. The per acre water requirements for vegetable land and other crops is comparable to citrus.

Land values in the lower Rio Grande area are less than those in other comparable areas due to our uncertain supply of water. This is reflected also in our lower acreage yields of citrus compared to California, Florida, and Arizona; also, of our lower acreage yields of vegetables and other crops.

Testimony has been produced before you gentlemen pointing up the fact that although approximately 750,000 acres are being irrigated below Falcon Dam, the yield of Falcon is sufficient to irrigate only approximately 500,000 acres on a firm basis. It is therefore readily apparent that we in the lower Rio Grande Valley must receive all of the supply of irrigation water formerly available to us and even then our farmers and citrus growers will face a water shortage annually of approximately 333 percent.

In the seven water districts in which I operate, the average bond tax leveled annually for repayment of indebtedness is approximately $3 per acre, the maintenance and operation tax, to maintain canals, river pumping plants, and other facilities, will average $3.25 per acre. The cost of water per acre annually, assuming five irrigations annually will be necessary, will average about $12 per acre. This adds up to a total annual irrigation charge of $18.25. In addition, there are State and county, school district, navigation district, drainage district, and other miscellaneous taxes. When these are added to the tax figure and the costs incident to planting, cultivation, and harvesting, it is readily apparent that no additional payment is possible without severe hardships.

In summarizing, the lower Rio Grande Valley has primarily an agricultural income. With this in mind, it becomes very apparent water is our lifeblood.

Previous witnesses today have given you rainfall records which show that rainfall is definitely insufficient and very definitely inadequate. We must therefore depend on the waters of the Rio Grande if our area is to maintain its place in the economy of the State and Nation.

Thank you, gentlemen, for the opportunity to appear before you. Mr. SELDEN. Thank you very much, Mr. Crockett.

Mr. KILGORE. Mr. Chairman, there are present here three other members of the Texas Legislature: State Senator Hubert Hudson of Brownsville, who is a member of the water committee of the State senate; State Representative Menton Murray of Harrington, who is chairman of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Conservation and Reclamation; and State Representative Eligio de la Garza, who is the dean of the Hidalgo delegation in the house and a member of the House Water Committee. They have a statement prepared which Senator Hudson will present to the committee.

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Mr. SELDEN. We are very pleased to have all three of these legislators here today and we will be delighted to hear from you, Senator Hudson.

STATEMENT OF HON. HUBERT HUDSON, BROWNSVILLE, TEX.,

STATE SENATOR, STATE OF TEXAS

Mr. HUDSON. I know we are all pretty tired. We have been sitting here listening to this testimony and you may think we people in the valley are pretty garrulous, but this is the most important thing facing us.

My senatorial district encompasses about 400,000 people in the State of Texas. I am also chairman this year of the Valley Chamber of Commerce and served for the past 10 years as commissioner of the Water District of the City of Brownsville.

You heard the witness speak about the hospital. I was on the board of governors at the hospital at the time when we went through our terribly serious water shortage there in Brownsville. We know what it is like to be without water. And that is the reason this new dam up the river, which will provide us supposedly only 85,000 more acre-feet of water, is only a small dribble compared to the amount we presently get from Falcon Dam. This is 85,000 acre-feet of water which is not even delivered to us but is some four or five hundred miles further upstream than where we are presently getting our source of water.

We certainly want to help our neighbors to the north in flood protection but the question, and the vital question to us, is the protection of our water rights on the Rio Grande because this is the whole life blood of the valley economy.

Now this is the joint statement which we have prepared. It is prepared by my two fellow colleagues and myself: Representative Eligio de la Garza and Representative Menton J. Murray who is dean of the house delegation.

No. 1: We in the Texas Legislature are mindful of the many problems we have on the State level pertaining to the control and the distribution of the American share of the waters of the Rio Grande.

2. We feel we have been diligent in working on these problems in endeavoring to solve them for more than 10 years.

3. We still have divergent views entertained by water users in the upper and the lower reaches of the Rio Grande River, and we encounter serious difficulty in passing any needed legislation, because it not only affects us but it affects the whole State, when you deal with riparian rights, with appropriative rights, and all the other various types of water permits that have been issued in the past. 4. We in the lower valley have never disagreed on the need of the Diablo Dam, now referred to as Amistad, as a flood control measure. We are making progress on the State level, however slowly, and sincerely trust that our progress will not be impeded, or our problems increased by the creation of the additional question of the payment of conservation storage for this new dam, particularly when we are not sure what we are going to get from the estimate of conservation storage-i.e., 85,000 acre-feet of water--when we have over 755,000 acres already in cultivation, just in the lower counties.

It would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to allocate any of these costs when the various water rights of the riparians and the appropriators and water permit holders have not been settled by the court. We estimate the suit in the courts will drag on for many years. It is the most important suit in the State of Texas for it will eventually determine, we hope, the settlement of all of our water rights.

We are quite mindful of and sympathetic to the need of brevity in these statements. May we again express the hope that our problems on the State level will not be increased by the insertion of the question of payment of conservation storage in the Amistad project, because we have more than enough now before us in the State legislature without getting into that additional one.

Mr. SELDEN. Thank you, Senator.

Mr. FASCELL. Senator, I just want to say that our colleague here, Congressman Kilgore, has stated in very glowing terms something about your ability. I can see your short appearance here today corroborates his statement and I am very happy to concur in it.

As we wind up here, I would like to say that I think it is a very fine spirit on the part of the users in the lower end to be so willing to cooperate as has been very ably expressed by you, and to be so objective in their approach, and also at the same time stand up and fight for what they think their rights are and should be.

With that, I hope we will not compound your difficulties.

Mr. HUDSON. Thank you. May I again say to you that this water and the water problem-this is our lifeblood for the determination of our economy in the valley-of 400,000 people.

Mr. FASCELL. I think that point has been very well made.
Mr. HUDSON. Thank you.

Mr. SELDEN. Before you leave, Senator Hudson, let me add to Congressman Fascell's statement. The group here today has presented your side of the question very clearly to the committee. Also I want to emphasize that your interests are being well represented here in the Congress by Representative Kilgore. Before the subcommittee draws up a final bill, both he and Congressman Fisher will be consulted.

Mr. HUDSON. Thank you very much.

Mr. KILGORE. Mr. Chairman, could I express for all of these people our sincere appreciation for the committee's sitting these long hours and ask if it is commensurate with your policies that others who were here and who have statements be permitted to file them with the committee?

Mr. SELDEN. All who so desire may file their statements and they will be made a part of the record.

Mr. KILGORE. Could the record be left open for other statements supplementing the testimony presented to be filed? I know Senator Kazen from Laredo has a request in that respect.

Mr. SELDEN. His statement will be included if he so desires.

Mr. KAZEN. I could conclude in about 3 minutes, if the committee would care to hear me.

I just have a few statements on the water rights.

Mr. SELDEN. We will be very happy to hear from you, Senator. If you would like to supplement your statement for the record, you may do so.