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The Role of Irrigation Districts in California's Water Development
Author(s) -
Teilmann Henrik
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1963.tb00900.x
Subject(s) - irrigation , legislation , revenue , irrigation district , business , tax revenue , agricultural economics , agriculture , scale (ratio) , water resource management , natural resource economics , economics , geography , environmental science , political science , finance , public economics , ecology , cartography , archaeology , law , biology
Summary: Early settlers found that California had excellent soil and tem‐perature for agricultural development, but very scanty rainfall in the growing season. Irrigation was introduced on a small, indi‐vidual scale, which developed into organized projects through the pioneering of the irrigation‐district system. Legislation was passed for a special tax structure by which revenue for mainte‐nance and operation of irrigation projects was obtained by taxing the benefited land exclusive of improvements. This unique tax structure encouraged individual ownership of land in units of the most economic size and spurred intensive cultivation and general economic development.