Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />of w~tt'r diverted for inigatiol1 ill 1974. There are no return Ilows recorded exclusively <br /> <br />for thc South Gila V"lky Unit: however. there are ,~ wells in the unit which maintain <br /> <br />adequate ground-water levC'!s. <br /> <br />The 18.5-mile Wellton-Mohawk Canal. diverting from the Gila Gravity Main C"nal <br />15 miles from Imperial Dam, has a capacity of 1.300 ft3/s. Its branches. the ".'cllton <br />Canal and the Mohawk Canal. are 21 and 43 miles long. re>pectively. The Wellton Canal <br />has a capacity of 300 ft3/s. Three large pumping plants along the Wellton-Moh'l\vk Can,,1 <br />lift water a total of 170 feet. Smaller relift pumps are scattered throughout the Division <br />on 227 miles of laterals. In 1974, there were 546.300 acre-feet of water delivered to <br />the Division. There are 106 wells in the area which arc used for drainage control. They <br />selectively pump water from the aquifer underlying the Division int" thc Wellton-Mohawk <br />Main Conveyance Channel. This pumped drainage totaled 206.400 acre-feet in 1974. <br />The Yuma Mesa Unit grows citrus. alfalfa hay and seed, peanuts. cotton. and <br />grains. Alfalfa, cotton. !lax, melons. citrus, grapes, winter vegetahles, small grains, and <br />Bermuda grass seed are grown in the North and South Gila Valley Units and the <br />Wcllton-Moh:lwk Division. Cattle and sheep brought from SUIlHllt'r ranges afe wintered on <br /> <br />irrigated pastures of the project before being shipped to feed lots and markets. <br /> <br />A.3.d. <br /> <br />Mexieali Valley of Mexico <br /> <br />The history of irrigation in Mexicali Valley is contemporary wit'] that of the <br />Imperial Valley in California. Mexico obtained diversion rights for up to half the water <br /> <br />Oowing ill the Alamo Canal to irrigate lands in the valley in return for granting the <br />predecessors of the Imper;,,1 Irrigation District the right to convey Colorado River water <br /> <br />in tht' c:J1wl through Ml'xjc;lJl territory. JI] 1910, 220.000 [ICfCS were irrigated in Mexico. <br />and in 1942, with the completion of the All-American Canal. 260,000 acres. Ratification <br /> <br />of the 1944 Treaty, with its gU~Hantee of minimum annual quantities of water at regulated <br /> <br />r~lte~~ rt'sulted in a largl' i!ll.Tl:JSt' in irrig:Jted acreage: it reacheu a maximulll of more <br /> <br />tl1an 500,000 acres in 1957. and was reported to be 410.000 acres in 1962. Crops grown <br />in the Mexieali Valley are primarily cotton and winter wheat. In 1961. more than 70 <br />percent of the cropland was planted to cotton. <br /> <br />14 <br />