BOARD02033 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I Bureau of Reclamation has proposed is accept- able. Also, I might say, we do not feel that we will come up with something short of more water which will be acceptable to Mexico but we do feel that we should come up with a solution which would be defensible in court. Actually what we have said in the Bureau's report now is that we are taking water which we have deter- mined to be unusable and pumping it to Mexico and saying you must use it. Now we don't feel that this is a defensible position. we set this up in three general parts, the first part a very short statement of the problem and I think it might be well to read the whole thing. we say: 'The deep aquifer in the wellton-Mohawk Project is highly salinized from past pump irri- gation practices beginning with pumping in 1931 which resulted in maximum development at that time of about ll,OOO acres under irrigation. During the next few years many wells failed as the '-later levels declined. "Also the quality of water deteriorated until a majority of wells had a salinity level in excess of 6,000 ppm", (quote from U.S.B.R. report). I The first project water from the Gila gravity main canal was delivered through the Wellton-Mohawk Canal on April 2l, 1952, and in 1961 52,995 acres were irrigated. By 1957, ris- ing ground water levels over the eastern half of the valley indicated a general drainage problem. By July, 1961 construction of the present drainage wells and conveyance channel through the Gila Narrows was completed and by January, 1962 the main outlet drain across, the South Gila Valley was complete. Sixty-seven wells are presently available for pumping for drainage relief. It is the pumping of these wells which creates the problem. Everyone recognizes that the project (that is, the wellton-Mohawk Project) must be drained and that pump drainage is the most economical.