Water Resources Final Exam – 2025/2026
Updated Study Guide & Practice Questions |
100% Pass Guarantee
Local Water Agencies - correct answerFreedom of choice and opportunity for land
ownership is our right!
We demand:
• Safe and reliable supplies of water
• Sanitary elimination of wastes
• Protection from natural disasters such as floods
• Water issue dichotomy
- Don't want federal intervention but want federal assistance
Municipal water departments - correct answerare local agencies, operated within a town
or city government, which provide drinking water to residents.
Operated by the town or city
Revenue: Water bills or local taxes
City/Towns: The surface or groundwater source The water treatment plant(s)
Delivery systems Annual Budget: $250,000 - millions of $$
South Carolina - correct answerPopulation: 120,000
Capacity of 2 treatment plants: 126 million gallons/day
Employees: 200
Length of waterlines: 2300 miles (4 to 54" diameter)
Historical Overview (Municipal Water Departments) - correct answer1600s: Water was
carried to homes in buckets Water was plentiful, population was small & pollution was a
word not found in their vocabulary
1666: New York City's first public well was constructed
1671: Second public well was built
1700s to 1800s:
Increase in population led to water issues
• Cholera epidemic in 1832
• Deadly fires in 1776, 1828, 1835
These tragedies taught the communities that small, hand dug wells were simply not
capable of providing safe and adequate water supplies for a growing city. Thus
,Department of Public Works, or Department of Public Utilities, or Water and Sewer
Department, or Water Works Department were born.
Water and Sewer Districts - correct answerare very similar to municipal water
departments except that they also handle sewage (wastewater) disposal.
- water and sewer districts often provide services outside of town or city boundaries and
may involve interagency agreements to service adjacent communities if excess capacity
is available.
Levee districts and Flood-Control districts - correct answerLevee districts: local agency
that constructs levees along flood-prone waterways
Flood-control districts: local agency that constructs flood protection projects
Levee Districts: Following Louisiana purchase in 1803 agriculture began in MS delta
● Levee Boards were created
○ Conflicts between levee boards (powerful groups of landowners to construct large
earthen levees (dikes) along the banks of Mississippi River)
-- detrimental to landownerwho had property on the opposite side of river bc levees
forced floodwater to other side of river
-- people could destroy levees to hurt a community
● President James A. Garfield: Control of the Mississippi River was too great an effort
for any one state to handle and would be a tremendous feat for a federal government to
accomplish
● Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927: Breached at 226 locations
● Flood Control Act of 1928- gave the federal government the duty to handle flood
protection
○ Flood Control Districts: Although flood control has become largely a federal
responsibility in the U.S., many regions of the country continue to support local flood-
control districts
■ e.g.Wyoming, Washington State, California, Arizona
Mutual ditch and irrigation companies - correct answerprivate company that constructs
and operates irrigation systems
Historical Overview (mutual ditch and irrigation companies) - correct answer• Privately
owned companies to deliver irrigation water
• Found only west of the Mississippi River
• 1847: Settlement in the west started by Mormons led by Brigham Young
-- Mormon settlers came to the Salt Lake Valley of Utah and immediately developed
irrigation ditches and reservoirs to grow food in the desert valley.
• 1870: Their methods were followed by the Union Colony in Greeley, Colorado
• A community ditch was constructed by settlers • Owner of shares of the stock of these
ditches created a Mutual Ditch Company
, • Profit was the ultimate motive of these companies, unlike the Mormons that just
shared these ditches
• The right to divert water is allocated based on shares of ownership
Regional Water Agencies - correct answer• Serve multiple counties
• Administer Large irrigation projects
• Watershed flood protection programs
• Consolidate water management issues
• Common goals to minimize overlapping government authorities
• Reduce government administrative costs
• Increase efficiency
• Irrigation Districts
• Conservancy/Conservation Districts
Governmental agencies were created to develop flood-control or water supply projects
and often serve as a local sponsor of USBR and Army Corp's projects.
Irrigation districts - correct answerlocal government agency that provides irrigation water
to irrigators
-- Irrigation districts were typically authorized to encourage economic expansion and
develop irrigated tracts of land too large for individuals or mutual ditch companies to
develop and manage.
Conservancy districts - correct answergovernmental agencies are political subdivisions
of the state formed by local landowners to solve local water management problems.
Conservancy districts are generally created to develop flood control or water supply
projects, and often serve as a local sponsor for projects of the Bureau of Reclamation or
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Nebraska Natural Resources Districts - correct answerNatural Resources Districts
(NRDs): local government agency in Nebraska that provides water and soil
management services
• Before 1969, Nebraska had over 500 special purpose districts
- Irrigation districts formed in 1895
- Drainage districts formed in 1905
- Soil conservation districts formed in 1937
- Rural water districts formed in 1967 and other sanitary, watershed and reclamation
districts
1969- the Nebraska Legislature took a radical approach to water resources
management with passage of a law creating the natural resources districts
Twenty-four NRDs were created (today there are 23 due to a merger), with boundaries
that follow Nebraska's watersheds. Large watersheds, such as the Platte River, which
flows across the entire state from west to east, are divided into several natural
Updated Study Guide & Practice Questions |
100% Pass Guarantee
Local Water Agencies - correct answerFreedom of choice and opportunity for land
ownership is our right!
We demand:
• Safe and reliable supplies of water
• Sanitary elimination of wastes
• Protection from natural disasters such as floods
• Water issue dichotomy
- Don't want federal intervention but want federal assistance
Municipal water departments - correct answerare local agencies, operated within a town
or city government, which provide drinking water to residents.
Operated by the town or city
Revenue: Water bills or local taxes
City/Towns: The surface or groundwater source The water treatment plant(s)
Delivery systems Annual Budget: $250,000 - millions of $$
South Carolina - correct answerPopulation: 120,000
Capacity of 2 treatment plants: 126 million gallons/day
Employees: 200
Length of waterlines: 2300 miles (4 to 54" diameter)
Historical Overview (Municipal Water Departments) - correct answer1600s: Water was
carried to homes in buckets Water was plentiful, population was small & pollution was a
word not found in their vocabulary
1666: New York City's first public well was constructed
1671: Second public well was built
1700s to 1800s:
Increase in population led to water issues
• Cholera epidemic in 1832
• Deadly fires in 1776, 1828, 1835
These tragedies taught the communities that small, hand dug wells were simply not
capable of providing safe and adequate water supplies for a growing city. Thus
,Department of Public Works, or Department of Public Utilities, or Water and Sewer
Department, or Water Works Department were born.
Water and Sewer Districts - correct answerare very similar to municipal water
departments except that they also handle sewage (wastewater) disposal.
- water and sewer districts often provide services outside of town or city boundaries and
may involve interagency agreements to service adjacent communities if excess capacity
is available.
Levee districts and Flood-Control districts - correct answerLevee districts: local agency
that constructs levees along flood-prone waterways
Flood-control districts: local agency that constructs flood protection projects
Levee Districts: Following Louisiana purchase in 1803 agriculture began in MS delta
● Levee Boards were created
○ Conflicts between levee boards (powerful groups of landowners to construct large
earthen levees (dikes) along the banks of Mississippi River)
-- detrimental to landownerwho had property on the opposite side of river bc levees
forced floodwater to other side of river
-- people could destroy levees to hurt a community
● President James A. Garfield: Control of the Mississippi River was too great an effort
for any one state to handle and would be a tremendous feat for a federal government to
accomplish
● Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927: Breached at 226 locations
● Flood Control Act of 1928- gave the federal government the duty to handle flood
protection
○ Flood Control Districts: Although flood control has become largely a federal
responsibility in the U.S., many regions of the country continue to support local flood-
control districts
■ e.g.Wyoming, Washington State, California, Arizona
Mutual ditch and irrigation companies - correct answerprivate company that constructs
and operates irrigation systems
Historical Overview (mutual ditch and irrigation companies) - correct answer• Privately
owned companies to deliver irrigation water
• Found only west of the Mississippi River
• 1847: Settlement in the west started by Mormons led by Brigham Young
-- Mormon settlers came to the Salt Lake Valley of Utah and immediately developed
irrigation ditches and reservoirs to grow food in the desert valley.
• 1870: Their methods were followed by the Union Colony in Greeley, Colorado
• A community ditch was constructed by settlers • Owner of shares of the stock of these
ditches created a Mutual Ditch Company
, • Profit was the ultimate motive of these companies, unlike the Mormons that just
shared these ditches
• The right to divert water is allocated based on shares of ownership
Regional Water Agencies - correct answer• Serve multiple counties
• Administer Large irrigation projects
• Watershed flood protection programs
• Consolidate water management issues
• Common goals to minimize overlapping government authorities
• Reduce government administrative costs
• Increase efficiency
• Irrigation Districts
• Conservancy/Conservation Districts
Governmental agencies were created to develop flood-control or water supply projects
and often serve as a local sponsor of USBR and Army Corp's projects.
Irrigation districts - correct answerlocal government agency that provides irrigation water
to irrigators
-- Irrigation districts were typically authorized to encourage economic expansion and
develop irrigated tracts of land too large for individuals or mutual ditch companies to
develop and manage.
Conservancy districts - correct answergovernmental agencies are political subdivisions
of the state formed by local landowners to solve local water management problems.
Conservancy districts are generally created to develop flood control or water supply
projects, and often serve as a local sponsor for projects of the Bureau of Reclamation or
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Nebraska Natural Resources Districts - correct answerNatural Resources Districts
(NRDs): local government agency in Nebraska that provides water and soil
management services
• Before 1969, Nebraska had over 500 special purpose districts
- Irrigation districts formed in 1895
- Drainage districts formed in 1905
- Soil conservation districts formed in 1937
- Rural water districts formed in 1967 and other sanitary, watershed and reclamation
districts
1969- the Nebraska Legislature took a radical approach to water resources
management with passage of a law creating the natural resources districts
Twenty-four NRDs were created (today there are 23 due to a merger), with boundaries
that follow Nebraska's watersheds. Large watersheds, such as the Platte River, which
flows across the entire state from west to east, are divided into several natural
