WATER
W aater is the key resource in a desert. Land seems boundless, but water is scarce. Not only is rainfall limited in Dixie (eight inches average annually) but its flow across the landscape is also sporadic. Sometimes small rivers and streams are placid and easily used other times they dry up. They occasionally become roaring floods and turn destructive when cloudbursts come. The speed of the accumulation, little hindered by vegetation, creates a force that uproots trees and rocks, hurling them as if they were toothpicks. In minutes the force cuts into soft riverbanks and washes away the soil the river has deposited for decades. Thus farmlands are decimated and sent downstream as mud and debris, eventually reaching the Colorado River. Over time, grazing by cattie and sheep denuded some of the range in Washington County, causing water to run off hillsides even more quickly. Canals and Dams Diverting water to thirsty crops and maintaining diversion dams and irrigation ditches was a constant cooperative challenge for the 182
