Roosevelt Water Conservation District Canal being lined with concrete. The canal was transformed by men and machines. Arizona Farmer-Ranchman, September 1969.When the landowners of the Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) received their tax bills last September, they should have been pleased to find that their annual district assessment had been reduced from $7 to $5 per acre. Their total saving, on 37,000 acres, will be $74,000.
Roosevelt Water District main canal. Before recent construction, this weed-infested section of the main canal had an old, cracked, and leaky concrete lining. Arizona Farmer-Ranchman, September 1969.The RWCD was able to receive this advantage because 6,000 acre-feet less water was needed to put the same amount of water to use on the farms. In other words the same job is being done with 6% less water and reduced crew needs.
How does all this come about? Well, the RWCD - located 25 miles east of Phoenix - is within a year of completing a rehabilitation program financed with a $4.8 million loan from the Bureau of Reclamation. And the water users, in this fiscal year, will enjoy a savings $4,000 greater than that, besides other blessings.
Now there's no trouble from gophers or water weeds, no seepage, and much less evaporation since the water travels much faster. Arizona Farmer-Ranchman, September 1969.When the project was constructed, nearly 40 years ago, the canal was gunite-lined from end to end. Now that 10.5 mile stretch is in such bad condition that the lining has to be pulled out and replaced.
This job, to be finished in the winter of 1969-70, will leave 10 miles of canal in need of attention.
About $4.5 million of the loan that was granted under the Small Reclamation Projects Act will have been expended on construction. Lateral concreting can save 6,000 acre-feet a year in a project that embraces only 38,000 acres.
(Permission for use of this article is from the author, Mr. Douglas. It first appeared in Arizona Farmer-Ranchman of Sept. 20, 1969)
Source:
Excerpted from "Concrete Work Pays Off" by Ernest Douglas, Editor, Arizona - Farmer-Ranchman. Article was published in the February 1970 Reclamation ERA magazine
