- Email: [email protected]
Fluvial processes in geomorphology
342
BOOK REVIEWS
GEOTIMES. Vol. 9, No. 4, Nov., 1964., A.G.I. Washington, D.C. In respect of its four main articles, this issue of Geotimes is virtually a hydrology issue. Luna Leopold describes the aims and objects of the International Hydrological Decade, which commenced in January, 1965. Frank Rainwater gives an account of the geological aspects of water pollution; he describes biological, organic chemical and inorganic chemical contaminants of ground water, and stresses the importance of keeping waters clean enough for re-use, an essential means of meeting demands for new water supplies. Lawrence James outlines the California Water Plan, while Bill L. Long reports on the recent enactment by Congress of Public Law 88-379, the Water Resources Research Act. In the introduction to these papers it is recalled that in the United States there has been traditionally more emphasis on water management than on water research. Money has generally been adequate for reclamation, flood control, and water supplies, but it has been far more difficult to find support for research projects in hydrology. Some of the government agencies engaged in water research have not been very sure of their responsibilities and this has not helped in the promotion of money for research. Competition to obtain government money for water management projects has been intense, and research needs generally have been neglected in these political discussions. With the passage of the Water Resources Research Act there should be a considerable impetus in hydrologic research. The law makes money available to each state for a water research institute and provides support for graduate students and for research by other public and private institutions. In his account of the California Water Plan, Lawrence James, Chief Geologist of the California Department of Water Resources, shows that while 70 per cent of the precipitation occurs in the northern third of the state, 77 per cent of the requirement lies in the southern two-thirds. Thus the basic water problem ill California is providing storage for intermittent and cyclic run-off and constructing aqueducts to areas of deficient natural suprly. The Plan accordingly envisages about 300 new dams and reservoirs and hundreds of miles of canal, tunnel and pipe-line, which would be built in stages in pace with growing demands for water. The 735-ft-high Oroville Dam, one of the world's largest embankment structures, is being built on the Feather River about 60 miles north of Sacramento, and the San Luis Dam, also a large embankment structure, west of Fresno. Moreover, work is progressing on parts of the 440-mile California Aqueduct, which will convey water to southern California and to other areas of water deficiency. In the later stages of water development it will become necessary to use ground-water basins in conjunction with surface reservoirs in order to obtain the storage required. This means that many of California's 250 ground-water basins must be studied to determine such factors as storage capacity, recharge potential, chemical character of native ground water, susceptibility to ground-water pollution, and other hydrologic and geologic conditions. Several of California's largest ground-water basins adjoin the Pacific Ocean, and in these the possibility of sea-water intrusion must be taken into account, as well as what can be done to prevent it. F.D. LUNA B. LEOPOLD, M. GORDON WOI-,MAN,JOHN P. MILLER. Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology. San Francisco, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1964, 522 p. $ 10. A quantitative, experimental approach to the study of running water and its effects.
Hydrogeology Chronicle. No. 1, Nov. 1964. Bureau de Recherches G6ologiques et Mini6res, Paris. 34 p.
BOOK REVIEWS
GEOTIMES. Vol. 9, No. 4, Nov., 1964., A.G.I. Washington, D.C. In respect of its four main articles, this issue of Geotimes is virtually a hydrology issue. Luna Leopold describes the aims and objects of the International Hydrological Decade, which commenced in January, 1965. Frank Rainwater gives an account of the geological aspects of water pollution; he describes biological, organic chemical and inorganic chemical contaminants of ground water, and stresses the importance of keeping waters clean enough for re-use, an essential means of meeting demands for new water supplies. Lawrence James outlines the California Water Plan, while Bill L. Long reports on the recent enactment by Congress of Public Law 88-379, the Water Resources Research Act. In the introduction to these papers it is recalled that in the United States there has been traditionally more emphasis on water management than on water research. Money has generally been adequate for reclamation, flood control, and water supplies, but it has been far more difficult to find support for research projects in hydrology. Some of the government agencies engaged in water research have not been very sure of their responsibilities and this has not helped in the promotion of money for research. Competition to obtain government money for water management projects has been intense, and research needs generally have been neglected in these political discussions. With the passage of the Water Resources Research Act there should be a considerable impetus in hydrologic research. The law makes money available to each state for a water research institute and provides support for graduate students and for research by other public and private institutions. In his account of the California Water Plan, Lawrence James, Chief Geologist of the California Department of Water Resources, shows that while 70 per cent of the precipitation occurs in the northern third of the state, 77 per cent of the requirement lies in the southern two-thirds. Thus the basic water problem ill California is providing storage for intermittent and cyclic run-off and constructing aqueducts to areas of deficient natural suprly. The Plan accordingly envisages about 300 new dams and reservoirs and hundreds of miles of canal, tunnel and pipe-line, which would be built in stages in pace with growing demands for water. The 735-ft-high Oroville Dam, one of the world's largest embankment structures, is being built on the Feather River about 60 miles north of Sacramento, and the San Luis Dam, also a large embankment structure, west of Fresno. Moreover, work is progressing on parts of the 440-mile California Aqueduct, which will convey water to southern California and to other areas of water deficiency. In the later stages of water development it will become necessary to use ground-water basins in conjunction with surface reservoirs in order to obtain the storage required. This means that many of California's 250 ground-water basins must be studied to determine such factors as storage capacity, recharge potential, chemical character of native ground water, susceptibility to ground-water pollution, and other hydrologic and geologic conditions. Several of California's largest ground-water basins adjoin the Pacific Ocean, and in these the possibility of sea-water intrusion must be taken into account, as well as what can be done to prevent it. F.D. LUNA B. LEOPOLD, M. GORDON WOI-,MAN,JOHN P. MILLER. Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology. San Francisco, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1964, 522 p. $ 10. A quantitative, experimental approach to the study of running water and its effects.
Hydrogeology Chronicle. No. 1, Nov. 1964. Bureau de Recherches G6ologiques et Mini6res, Paris. 34 p.