Crews excavating tons of sand for All American Canal lining
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 14, 2008 at 6:27 amFrom 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.
Judge rejects delay to All-American Canal work
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 29, 2008 at 6:33 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
A request from opponents to the All-American Canal lining project to prevent the flow of water into the new channel was denied by a state appellate judge last week.
Jim Abatti, a member of Protect Our Water and Energy Rights, said the lawsuit did not attempt to stall the project. Abatti said the request asked that water not be diverted into the newly lined canal until safety measures were put into place to save lives. “It’s already a dangerous canal now,” Abatti said of the earthen canal. “There is no dollar on anything I’m suing for. I’m suing on the principle of making sure they do things right.”
At the center of the debate is whether the new canal, which is already under construction and scheduled to come on line in 2010, should have ridges in the concrete sides to allow animals or humans who fall in a chance to get out.
Imperial Irrigation District spokesman Kevin Kelley said the ridges presented a structural flaw to the district and other agencies lining the canal. “Those ridges were eliminated based on the input of all the project partners including the Bureau of Reclamation,” Kelley said.
The construction of the canal includes metal ladders that have been placed on alternating sides of the canal every 250 feet.
Read the full text of this story from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Looming water issues on both sides of our borders foreshadow big problems
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on March 10, 2008 at 1:10 pmFrom Earthnews:
Adaptation, or the matter of adjusting to climate change, is sometimes called a cheaper, easier way to deal with some of the consequences of a warming world. But consider the battle between the United States, Mexico and Canada that was triggered here amid the vegetable farms near the California border.
For more than 60 years the family of Geronimo Hernandez has raised watermelons, peppers and other crops in the rich, irrigated soil of Mexicali Valley, but within the next five years it could begin to dry up.
That would leave Hernandez, 62, and 400 other farmers in a desert with no jobs, victims of new efforts by the United States to plug some of the leaks in the Colorado River system that provides water to much of the drought-stricken Southwest. That issue, in turn, has raised the hackles of Canada, where groups worry that the next U.S. move will be to come after Canada’s ample supplies of fresh water.
While politicians in the United States focus on what Congress might do to curb greenhouse gases in the future, many scientists worry how nations will respond to climate changes that are already under way.
In the recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate scientists concluded that conserving water will be essential and that North America may find it easier to adapt than other parts of the world because it has “responsive” governments and more robust economies.
“The literature provides high agreement and much evidence of many options for achieving reductions of global GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions at the international level through cooperation,” the panel found. But if the mess that involves Hernandez is any guide, adaptation will be slow, shrill, expensive and politically ugly.
The situation Hernandez is referencing in the above excerpt is the lining of the All-American canal. The reservoir mentioned in the article is the Drop 2 reservoir. This is causing some difficulties for Mexico as they are seeing water they have come to rely on dry up.
But our water woes are cause for concern in Canada, as well, and apparently, the idea of a large system to move water from Canada to the U.S. is at least being discussed in some circles (also see this related WaterWired post):
The White House asked the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private Washington research group, to do a study. Last April Peschard-Sverdrup, a senior associate with the center, brought a team of Mexican and U.S. experts to Calgary, Canada, along with a position paper suggesting that the three countries might consider “water transfers and artificial diversions of fresh water” to head off future water disputes.
The Council of Canadians, a nationalist group, leaked the paper to the press calling it “damning evidence” of “secret talks” aimed at getting access to Canadian water. Maude Barlow, chairman of the group, sees a plot. “It [water] will be taken from the North. It will require a great engineering feat to build pipelines. There will be very big opposition to this when it happens.”
Peschard-Sverdrup said this is nonsense. “They do that for fund-raising purposes,” he asserts, referring to the council. But the Council of Canadians’ move rattled the Canadian government, which refused to participate in the study or to send federal officials to participate in the Calgary talks.
The Conference Board of Canada, a private Ottawa research group similar to the CSIS, refused to be a cosponsor of the study. Instead it released its own, noting that while Canada has about 20 percent of the world’s fresh water, much of it is locked up in glaciers in the far north. Gilles Rheaume, a vice president of the conference board, said: “We’re looking at the question, ‘Do we really have a lot of water to sell?’ The answer is no.”
One of his group’s concerns is that if, somehow, Canadian water was fed to the thirsty and rapidly growing cities of the U.S. Southwest, there will be no end to the demand. The U.S. Census Bureau, the Conference Board notes, expects the population of Nevada and Arizona to double by 2030. “Our question is whether there should be limitations on continuing this development. It’s a harsh reality, but it has to be considered,” Rheaume said.
Read the rest of this story from Earth News by clicking here.
Baja California governor protests the lining of the All-American Canal while in Washington D.C.
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 26, 2008 at 9:26 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press:
Baja California’s governor protested the cement lining of the All-American Canal while in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, according to Mexican news media.
During the Winter National Governor’s Association meeting here this weekend Gov. Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millán reportedly complained that the encasement is negatively impacting agricultural and economic activity in the Mexicali Valley.
Osuna privately met with Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Sunday and discussed “water issues along the U.S.-Mexico border,” confirmed Shane Wolfe, a spokesman for Kempthorne. Details on that discussion were not being released as it is the department’s policy not to publicize details of the secretary’s private discussions with governors.
Mexican and Baja California lawsuits had held up construction of the lining for about year. The cement lining of a 23-mile stretch of the canal is under way to recapture 67,000 acre-feet of water per year that would otherwise seep into the Mexicali Valley. Construction began in July and is expected to be completed before the decade’s end, said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for the Imperial Irrigation District. The IID manages the U.S.-owned canal and is the lead agency in the lining’s construction.
Kelley said Mexican opposition to the canal is expected. “It isn’t surprising because there have been ongoing discussions at diplomatic levels … since the project began,” he said.
Water flows through the unlined All-American Canal from Imperial Dam to the Imperial Valley, and seepage from that canal has replenished the aquifer that sits underneath a productive Mexican agricultural region just across the border. The loss of the seepage will have a direct, negative impact on the agricultural area on the other side.
The Imperial Valley farmers have signed the QSA agreement to transfer water to urban areas, and the lining of the canal and the resultant water savings make up a significant portion of the water being transferred to San Diego.
You can read more about this debate by checking out the All-American Canal category here on Aquafornia. Choose from the list of categories on the right, or click here.
A meeting with Mexican & United States water and diplomatic officials is scheduled for March 11th in Phoenix. Get the rest of the story from the Imperial Valley Press by clicking here.
Imperial County files complaint against All-American canal contractor
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 31, 2007 at 5:56 amFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
Imperial County has filed an official complaint through the state Superior Court against a construction company for what the county claims are equipment and air violations in the construction of the All-American Canal lining project.
On Tuesday, the county confirmed that a complaint had been filed against Phoenix-based Ames Construction. The complaint does not legally halt construction on the project. “They’re operating internal combustion engines — pumps, generators — and they don’t feel they need to have district permits that we require,” said Imperial County Air Pollution Control District Officer Steve Birdsall. “We disagree.
“We’re trying to protect our air quality,” Birdsall said. “We’re treating them no differently than we’re treating anyone else.”
To read the full text of this article from the Imperial Valley Press Online, click here.
Imperial Valley Press: don’t stall the All American canal project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 18, 2007 at 1:29 pmFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online, yesterday’s paper ran a story on how authorities were looking into air quality violations around the construction site:
The county and Imperial Irrigation District claim they want to get this problem cleared up quickly so it won’t affect the project. The IID said it does, of course, want the law followed.
We understand that, as we also want the law followed. Poor air quality in Imperial County is an ongoing problem. The county is correct when it says if it doesn’t enforce compliance, someone else will. And we don’t need the state or federal government coming in to bog things down even more.
But this strikes us as a bit futile at best. First, when you are doing construction work in the middle of the desert there will be some blowing dust no matter how much you water the ground. This is an arid environment and it will always be dusty. We all understand that because we live with it every day.
To read the full text of the editorial from the Imperial Valley Press Online, click here.
All-American Canal lining project could be facing a new challenge: air pollution
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 17, 2007 at 10:54 pmFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
While lawsuits may no longer be holding up the project to build a cement-lined All-American Canal, a new controversy is emerging that could slow the $300 million project. The issue is over the alleged pollution one contractor — actually two companies working in partnership, Ames Construction of Phoenix and Coffman Specialties of San Diego — is generating.
The question is whether the companies are violating California air-quality protection laws as they work on the project to line a 23-mile stretch of the canal in the Valley’s east desert.
A second contractor working on the AAC project, Kiewit-Pacific Co. of Vancouver, Wash., is not facing scrutiny by the county.
To read the full text of the article from the Imperial Valley Press Online, click here.
All-American Canal safety issues still debated
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 29, 2007 at 7:23 amSafety issues take center stage in the continuing debate over the All-American canal lining project in this story from the Imperial Valley Press Online:
Already the safety issue has been a subject of legal battles at the state and federal court levels even as the work to build the canal has started this summer. Congressman Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, who used to represent the Imperial Valley before redistricting — and who is now a presidential candidate — sent a letter to IID June 13 questioning what he considers a lack of safety measures built into the new canal project.
Just days ago IID responded to Hunter. In the letter signed by IID board President Stella Mendoza, she says: “It is my belief that safety measures incorporated into the existing design specifications adequately address the need to provide for the public’s health and welfare.”
The original project called for escape ridges to be built into the side of the canal, but the Bureau of Reclamation, which is responsible for the canal, determined the ridges would make the canal structurally unsound, and so removed them from the plan:
IID officials say the decision on whether to include escape ridges rests with the bureau. It is not a decision IID, which operates the canal and is construction manager over the canal-lining project, could make on its own, district officials say.
The one safety measure in the project involves the placement of “escape” ladders that will be positioned 375 feet a part. IID officials have said they believe the ladders are an adequate safety measure. Hunter, whose brother John Hunter has been a leading voice in the Valley for immigrant safety — doesn’t think the ladders are sufficient. Duncan Hunter, like his brother, says IID should add other safety measures. “These measures include fencing, rope and buoy systems, tapered concrete sides as well as more frequent ladders,” Hunter says in his letter to the district.
To read the full text of the article from the Imperial Valley Press Online, click here.
LA Times Editorial on All-American Canal safety: crossing border should not be a death sentence
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 21, 2007 at 7:47 amFrom the LA Times Opinion Pages, regarding the All-American Canal lining project:
A study by state and federal public health officials concluded that steps should be built into the canal sides to avoid drownings of humans and large mammals, but the federal Bureau of Reclamation refuses to include them, saying they would cause structural instability and leakage. Meanwhile, the Imperial Irrigation District, which operates the canal, has refused to add even such basic safety measures as lifelines — cables with buoys that cross the canal, which people can grab to avoid being swept away. The district’s bizarre justification is that adding lifelines would increase its liability, which is like saying you shouldn’t throw a buoy to a drowning man because he might sue you if he survives. Other parts of the canal have lifelines to protect district workers.
It’s hard to escape the conclusion that the water district’s board is more concerned about illegal immigration than about human lives. Border security is a good thing, but crossing shouldn’t be a death sentence. Even Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of El Cajon, who is no friend to illegal immigrants, is appalled by the drownings; last month he wrote a letter to water officials calling the deaths “a costly consequence to past indifference.”
To read the full text of this opinion piece from the LA Times, click here.
Third lawsuit against All-American canal lining project is dismissed
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 17, 2007 at 12:32 pmFrom the Imperial Valley Press Online:
As work has begun on building a cement-lined All-American Canal, the courts have issued a third defeat to a group opposed to the project. The ruling has left the group called Protect Our Water and Environmental Rights wondering where its case can be heard as both the state and federal courts have now said they have no jurisdiction over the matter. “I guess you can’t get it heard,” said local farmer Jim Abatti, brother of IID Director Mike Abatti, and a member of POWER.
This lawsuit focused on safety issues in the construction of the canal. Previous lawsuits have focused on the environmental issues south of the border, but were also dismissed. Seepage from the unlined canal has been feeding an aquifer which serves one of the most productive agricultural regions in Mexico. The raised water table has benefited wildlife habitats as well. Read more
All-American Canal Lining prompts many safety concerns
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 15, 2007 at 7:37 amThe lining of the All-American Canal in the Imperial Valley is now underway, and there are new concerns about safety:
From the Los Angeles Times:
About 23 miles of the canal are being lined with concrete to conserve water by preventing it from seeping into the ground. When the lining is complete, water will flow faster and the canal sides will be steeper, slicker and harder to scale. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began work in June.
The original 1994 plan for the lining project called for “large mammal escape ridges,” or steps, to make it easier for both humans and animals to get out of the water. But the Bureau of Reclamation no longer intends to include escape ridges, saying they cause structural instability and leakage.
Critics of the lining say it is illegal to drop the safety provisions. And they say there are reasons, not stated in the official record, why the escape ridges aren’t being included. The canal, which is operated by the Imperial Irrigation District, runs parallel to the Mexican border — less than a mile from it in places — and is a long barrier to people trying to make their way north. …
Lining the earthen canal will provide California more water at a time when the state has been ordered to reduce its take from the Colorado River. The unlined canal has been losing millions of gallons a year to seepage. But that water has been flowing underground to Mexico, where it has sustained wetlands and been used by farmers since the early 1940s. When that supply dries up, critics of the lining project, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, warn that fields will be fallowed, possibly prompting even more unemployed Mexicans to risk crossing the border and the canal.
“The lining ignores the serious environmental, safety or economic consequences to the region,” said Malissa Hathaway McKeith, a Los Angeles lawyer and Colorado River water expert who represented an alliance of Mexican business and environmental interests opposed to the lining.
To read the full text of the article from the Los Angeles Times, click here.
Work begins on All-American canal lining project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 1, 2007 at 9:57 amAfter a year’s delay while several legal challenges were resolved, work has begun on lining a 23-mile section of the All-American canal. The All-American canal delivers Colorado River water to irrigate farmland and for municipal use in Imperial County.
From the Yuma Sun:
When completed, the two-year project is expected to save 67,700 acre-feet of water a year now lost because of seepage, Kelly said. One acre-foot of water is considered enough for a family of four for a year. But it was that very seepage that led to legal challenges and the delay. Environmentalists and businesses on both sides of the border claimed that the seepage from the 70-year-old canal has become a vital water source for the Mexicali Valley aquifer. However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted its injunction last month, clearing the way for the project to proceed, said Kelley.
To read the full text of the article from the Yuma Sun, click here.
The project is part of the effort to reduce water consumption to comply with a multi-state pact to reduce California’s use of Colorado River water and live within it’s 4.4 million acre-feet allocation. Urban users in San Diego will be the prime beneficiary of the saved water.
All-American Canal lining project set to begin this week
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2007 at 10:11 amThis from the North County Times:
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday denied a petition by the city of Calexico to reconsider the court’s April 6 ruling allowing the project to go forward, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
The city had argued that its residents would be harmed economically and environmentally by the lining project. Calexico is heavily dependent on cross- border commerce from neighboring Mexicali and has joined efforts with a Mexicali business group and California environmentalists in opposing the lining.
The project could save 56,000 acre feet of water from seeping into the ground every year. But in doing so, Mexican farmers will lose that ground water they have counted on for decades.
The lining opponents have said they are prepared to take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Calexico City Attorney Jennifer Lyon said last week that “all litigation strategies will be discussed with my council on June 5,” the newspaper reported.
Calexico files suit against All-American canal lining project
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 23, 2007 at 4:44 pmThis from the San Francisco Chronicle:
The city [Calexico] lodged a new legal challenge in a federal appeals court opposing efforts to line a border canal with cement to prevent water seepage. In a lawsuit filed Monday with the Ninth District Court of Appeals, Calexico claims environmental and economic impacts on the city were not sufficiently considered before the court dismissed litigation in April, allowing the lining to be installed. The city wants the court to reopen hearings on the issue.
City officials said Tuesday that they believed their suit would be joined by a Mexican civic organization, Consejo Desarollo Economico De Mexicali, that has challenged the canal project on the grounds that it would have a dire effect on the Mexican economy.
The cement lining project, which is expected to move forward in June, is meant to stop the seepage of some 67,000 acre-feet of water annually that leaks into Mexico. CDEM has claimed the city of Mexicali, on the Mexican side of the border, has a historical right to that water.
For the full text of the story from the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.
In a somewhat contradictory story, the Imperial Valley Press Online filed this report today:
… But for some Calexico City Council members there was confusion Tuesday as to the city’s role in the latest litigation. Councilman John Renison said he thought the city’s involvement in the litigation would be secondary to other parties, who since 2005 have challenged the AAC project. “My understanding was that the city was lending its name only and we were not to be a party,” Renison said, adding: “I felt our involvement was minimal.”
Councilwoman Carmen Durazo shared Renison’s sentiment, stating she would have to speak to the city’s attorney to clarify the action the city has taken.
Actually, the city is the only litigant in a filing Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
For the full text of the Imperial Valley Press Online story, click here.
All-American Canal Lining scheduled to begin in June
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 15, 2007 at 2:21 pmFrom the Yuma Sun:
After nearly a year’s delay, Imperial Irrigation District expects to start construction June 4 on a project to line a portion of the earthen-banked All-American Canal with concrete.
The project had been put on hold because of legal challenges issued by environmentalists and businesses on both sides of the border, who say seepage from the 70-year-old canal is a vital water source for the Mexicali Valley aquifer.
Last month, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco lifted its injunction, clearing the way for the project to proceed, said Kevin Kelley, spokesman for Imperial Irrigation District. The irrigation district operates the federal waterway under a contract with the Department of Interior.
For the full text of the article, click here.
New law suit filed to stop lining of All-American canal:
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 10, 2007 at 3:19 pmThis, from KPBS in San Diego:
Water officials want to line a 23-mile stretch of the irrigation canal with concrete to block leaks and save water. The San Diego County Water Authority says lining the canal will save enough water to meet the needs of half-a-million people each year for more than a century. Lawsuits challenging the plan were dismissed last month. But a new lawsuit now seeks to stop the project.
The lawsuit is not expected to delay the start of construction, set to begin next month.
For the full text of the KPBS story, click here.
Mexican President Calderon speaks out against canal lining
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 6, 2007 at 12:10 pmFrom the San Diego Union Tribune:
TIJUANA – Mexican President Felipe Calderón spoke out yesterday against a U.S. plan to line a porous 23-mile section of the All-American Canal in Imperial County, saying it will “cause enormous damage to the environment and the economy of the Baja California border.” During a stop in Tijuana, where he was visiting a new housing development, Calderón called on Mexican citizens “to firmly exercise our rights and join forces to achieve a common objective, that this alternate canal on the U.S. side not be built.”
For the full text of the story from the Union Tribune, click here.