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50. of -water percolates into the aquifers. Because of its confined nature, all but the near-surface water is under artesian head. During 1948 an estimated total of 34,719 acre-feet of water was withdrawn from the artesian basin. An additional 8.000 acre-feet were removed from the near-surface basin by evaporation and transpiration, of which probably 4,000 acre-feet were supplied by sewage and cooling water leaving a net withdrawal from the deeper aquifers of an additional 4.000 acre-feet per year. The total estimated withdrawal from the artesian basinL was therefore 38,719 acre-feet during 1948. That this rate of withdrawal probably exceeds j the capacity of the aquifer can be seen from the decline inf artesian flow of the Union Pacific Railroad Company wells. These data are plotted on Figure 13. It is to be noted that the years 1945 to 1949 (first 6 months) only, are plotted. Prior to 1945 only five wells and three springs were in service. Further evidence of the overdevelopment of the artesian basin is shown by the hydrographs in Figure 14. These data indicate that the present rate of withdrawal exceeds the r echarga-v- While the maximum safe withdrawal from the artesian basin is limited to 35,000 acre-feet per year, (31.0 MOD),