WSP04599

• File Number: 8278.200
• Description: Title I - Wellton-Mohawk
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1978
• Author: WM I&DD
• Title: Wellton-Mowhawk Irrigation and Drainage District - District Overview
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

Status of the provisions outlined in Minute 242 above:

(1) Construction of a lined Coachella Canal: Design has been
submitted to the Denver office of the Bureau of Heclamation, It
is estimated that bids on Reach 1 will be received about July 1,
1978 and on Reach 2 about November 1, and that the entire project
will be complete by March 1, 1980,

(2) Construction of the desalination plant: The location of the
plant is to be west of Yuma and immediately north of the Yucca
steam-electric plant of Arizona Public Service Company, Bids were
received by the Bureau on two packages of the membrane filters
for the plant, The awards of contracts are delayed by a protest
from two of the unsuccessful bidders and there is no projection
on when these differences will be resolved,

(3) Construction of the extension to the Main Outlet Drain
Extension has been completed, The 37-mile portion to Santa Clara
Slough was completed by Mexico in April 1977, The 16-mile portion
between Morelos Dam and the international border at San Luis
was completed in June 1977,

(4) Procurement of high-water-use land by the Bureau of Rec-
lamation has proceeded and is now essentially complete; 5,800 acres
have been purchased, Most of this land is on the Mesa, 4,000 acres
of it in citrus, Citrus lands purchased have been or will be cleared
and the trees cut and chipped or windrowed to provide wildlife
cover.
Purpose of the reduction is two fold. First, the District's con-
tract with the United States is for use on 75,000 acres or for 300,000
acre feet per year, diversion less return, This quantity of 300,000
acre feet is simply not enough to irrigate 75,000 acres, especially
when a major acreage is in alfalfa which requires a consumptive
use of 6,2 feet. The District over-ran its legal limit in 1964, 1971,
1974 and 1975,

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Second, acreage reduction will decrease the drainage, or return;
this in turn will decrease the size of the proposed desalination plant.

(5) The Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Section
of the International Boundary and Water Commission have been
successful in keeping the quality of water delivered to Mexico at
less than 145 ppm higher than Imperial Dam quality.

(6) Mexico installed, in 1972-73, sixty-four wells on the mesa
east of San Luis and a concrete channel to carry the effluent into
the San Luis Valley. The wells draw approximately 5 cfs each from
a static level of about 90 feet, Of course, the pumps draw from
the underground reservoir created by the Yuma Mesa Irrigation
and Drainage District.

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