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Crews excavating tons of sand for All American Canal lining

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 14, 2008 at 6:27 am

From the Yuma Sun:

Shape-shifters in the form of huge, lumbering earth movers have been busily at work on the dunes west of Yuma a year into a massive project on the All American Canal. The project includes construction of a 23-mile concrete-lined segment of the All American Canal to run parallel to the existing earthen canal stretching from a mile west of Pilot Knob to Drop 3. A reservoir also is being constructed near Gordon’s Well to hold about 8,000 acre-feet of water, mainly to regulate the lower Colorado River operation.

It is considered one of the largest water conservation programs in the nation, said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for Imperial Irrigation District, which operates the canal under a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

Built in the 1930s, the All American Canal runs adjacent to the international border in Southern California, carrying about 3.1 million acre-feet of water a year from the Colorado River to the Imperial Valley. Replacement of the 23-mile eastern segment of earthen canal with the lined canal is expected to save 67,700 acre-feet of water a year. That would be enough water to supply the annual needs of about 500,000 people in Southern California.

That segment of the 82-mile canal was selected for the work because it winds across the sand dunes, resulting in substantial water loss from seepage through the sandy soil. “That’s the section with the greatest identifiable seepage,” Kelley said.

Read the full text of this article from the Yuma Sun by clicking here.

July 14, 2008 · Filed Under All-American Canal

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