THE COLORADO RIVER and IMPERIAL VALLEY SOILS I I ' ' '' ' ' '"' ' A CHRONICLE OF IMPERIAL VALLEY'S CONTINUING FIGHT AGAINST SALT FOREW ORD Elsewhere In the Untied States, soil conservation dlstricte - lormed as a result of referendum by landowners - are governed by an elected board ol directors. In Imperial Valley, Imperial lrriqatlon Dlatrict functions a.s the SoU Conservation District under a unique memorandum of aqreement with the U.S. Department of Aqr;culture. Soil conservotlon policy Ia ael by the District board which also aerves as a soli conservation board. Soil scl.ontlata. en91n..•r• and con&41rvatlonlsts provide technical assistance to farmers. Soil engineering lnforma1ton and survey da1a, prepared by either the liD or SCS, are freely interchanged. The Dlatrict provides clerical and office facllJUes lor SCS, as well as pub!Jc Information 01818tance. Silt and Salt Imperial Valley, the winter qreenhouse of the nation. has be&n oonqu.,rtng the pro!> !ems and obstacles tha1 have tendad to discourage Ita formers sin~ 1901. In 1900, thta was a bo11en deMrl. Wllh the construction ol a heading on the Colorado River, 60 mllos east ol the Valley, irrigation wa1er was brought lnto the thirsty d·-rt In 1901. This au~sful dlv"r slon ol water through o con ...... ~«-..l••·•t "' * or· VIIYOnc:e canol, many miles of which were In Mexico, was enJoyed (or the brief period of only four years before trouble developed. Looldnf eouth.. thl• oeriol •lew .atowa the beodworb of tl:•• AJI. A flood on the Colorado River washed out the control wor;ca Amenccm Cc:ma.L Tb• Colorado IU•tr ia ot left. Po:rt of the d..Utl.D9 and lor about two years, 1~7. the Colorado River flowed through bcu.W la a1 -.xtr•mt upper rigbt·hon4 com.r. SUt ftual\ed back ln.to th& Alamo and New Riv~ra mlo the lmpetlal Volley, forming the the riYtr from the botln• con bt •••n at upper left. (Genttf photo) Salton Sea. At qroot exp. nso. tho Southern Pacific Company llnolly closed By comparlaon, the Columbia River, which Is approxima tely the the qap on the Colorado River and now control worh were Installed. same lerlQth. has an annual flow ol 184 million ocr•feet. These were us~td to control lrrtqotlon walar anlerlnq the Vo lley until AuQm~tn tallon of the Colorado has been suqqesled as a means 1942 when the A II·Amerlcxm Canal was completed and Imperial ol fumiahinq lh<i supply to meet the water demands of the seven Valley water was delivered via the new canal, with its entire lanqfu Colorado River Basin slates. However, the recent slow rate of In the United States. development of waler·ualnq proJects In the basin states, the slow· Salt and stlt hove been the downlall ol many lniqated areas down In Callfomto'l qrowth rate, and the opportunity to use water throuqhout the htatory ol the world. Imperial Valley has bec.n laced stored In the maJor ra~ervolra Jncllecte that tho river's natural Oow with both oltheae ond hoa completely conquered the silt problem. probably will be aufhctant unlll the tum of thls contwy. The aalt problem Is be.nq louqht vlqorou5ly and wtlh qreat It has boon esllma1ed that by the year 2020, aqricultural pro­ success. Yet, som,. d fflculttes conbnu.e to exist. duchon •n CaiJJornla will have to be doubled or tripled to take care of the estimated population. Colorado p.,.., Problema If the nver were auqmented with low wlinity water, the rlvllr's hiqh lovol of eallnlty would be reduced. Imperial lrriqoUon Althouqh 1111 a powerful end mpo. 1nq nver, the Colorado's flow Dlstnct atronqly supporta atudlee ol wcrya to auqment the Colorado Is small. Ita total lenqth Is about 1.400 mtles and II& watershed cove'" !57 million acrea ol land, yet the rtver produces only about 14 million acre-feet of wa ter per year. TypicolliUnt o.,.tatJon In lmperlol VolJ•y •howa inatallation oJ a bCJM lin•. Sub-turlace tiUng ln.a.a.. t tht tfllc:iency of drainage ayatem. remo•.. .oh dtpolita. Stote ot CaiUomla- oUidGia of the Colorado JU ..r Boord ond Attorney General'• oUice Jook at a plotllc ·Uie-- loytnt mac.h1ne dwiog a recent lour of fmp•rlol Voii•Y· (Hoppo photo) River: however, becouao river cruomentaUon Ia not likely In the nearly two million tons of dluolvod salts from antorlno the rlvor r.tv.lr future, other methods must be utilized to reduce oallnJUes. each year. Over the years, the eahmty of Colorado River water delivered The qeoiOQlc background and the eventiul and colorful period to lmpenal Volley has be"n lncreaainq. By 1970, this amount hod of development ol Imperial Valley hove crttracted the mterest ol the risen to 1.27 tons per acre-foot (equivalent to about 930 porta per whole notion and hove offered a fertile Held for w rltora of all types, mllllonl. The Colorado River Boord of Colllomla has profe<;ted In both lito rory and acfenliftc. ua 1970 report ntttlo>d " Ne<>clfor Controlilnq Salm.ty of tho Colorado Perhaps th<t b. "' known novo! nbout lmpr>rtf'll Valley Ia "The Rtver'' that th1.1 r~ver's salinity at lmp>rtal Dam will rtse to ppm 1,340 Wmnlno of Borbora Worth'' a best a<t1'.•r m Ita day - wrttt n In by the yQar 2000, unless sallnlty control measures are undertaken. 1910 by Harold Bell W r19nt. The story Is built around tne river The lrr:perlal JmqaUon District has been stronqly supportlnq the break of 1905.07 and the heroic and costly efforts to close the break el!orts of the Colorado Rlv<~r Board lo prevent the projected salmlty and r"tutn the nver to its channel to the Gulf ol Cokfomia. mcreoses. l nlllnl suc~aa was achteved In 1971 when the Conqress. Stnco then, many hundreds of books. maqO'Zin4' articles on- mopondJnq to eUorts by the boc:rrd - In concert with repree&ntatlvos tlflc papers and nowspoper aloriea about tne Volley, or some of the from O'hE'r Boaln stcrtes - approprlato>d lunda to commencA feas­ maJor ovents In Ita htstory, hrrve beon published. tbthly atudtes of ""llnlly control prof eta In the Colorado River ~in. ThrouQhout ,..,.. years. tho· Valley hus faO'Id, and ovP.rr-ome, Nationwide Interest many problems. Some of the stories that were pub!.ahed did severe damaqe to the financial credit ol the Volley. Some of these stories In further response to Calilornla'a eUor ts, the Bureau of Reclama· were not based on fact. or qave a distort•>d picture of the facta. Uon Ia developln9 a sallnlly control program Ia echedule I'IIMOrch. stud tea and conatructlon of salinity control prolecta. lmplomentaUon of this proqram durtno this decade ahould result In the prevention of Dttp-ptowlnt ahown obo"t ~~ nttdtd hequently In Imperial Valley to break up toll l lrolilicatlon. A•eraqe depth ia approximately lour fttt. (Ctrater photo) f Plon11 9lve off wo tt r Wohr t e01 oporotes Salts remo•n beh1nd 4 Thore waa, lor instance. a story to the effect that the conllnuf>d th- loyera of soil. It con accumulate tn a layer of sandy soli In one deposits ol the larc;re volume of Colorado River sill on Its d81ta wem area and travel lhrouqh the sand to crop out some distance from so increastnq the woiqht on that sec;rment of the earth's crust that it where It entered. This couaee an artesian prouure which often gives would sink and permit the waters ol the c;rulf to rush In and sub­ the farmars and technicians some real concern befom it is dis· merc;re lmporlal Volley. covered. A hlc;rhly d1otortod story about the Valley has rocontly been In 1922 the Imperial ln1c;rt111on Dlslrtct stoned a system of drain· circulate<! by a usually reliable wtre aorv ce accordinc;r 10 which the aqe dttchea which empty Into the New and Alamo Rlvers. Today, 110lt struotton has deteriorated to the pomt where thou~nds of acres thta ayat m Is more than I,400 miles Jonq. hove been abondoned. Imperial Volley's doom m the near future Formers mode private drain d!tches on their land to help toke was forecast. away saline water; however, due to the fine texture of the soils the Nothlnc;r could be further from the truth. While the problem lateral movement of water was not qreal enouqh for these to be x1sls, th followlnc;r poc;res w11l cloorly point out that th~t dtfflcullies are be1nq ov r A N BERNARDINO Silt Plaqued Early Settlers -------- In the early days of the Valley, silt was a biq problem In d!tch ------- maintenance because the water flowed from the uncontrolled Colorado Rlv"r directly into the lrrlc;rotlon syst.. m. A Ruth dredqe was Jnventocl locally to cl..an ditches without chanqinq the depth. Th1s wo1 usod until the lmportnl Dam and the desiltmq basins were Installed on the Colorado R1ver In 1938. Smce that lime alit has been of mmor consequence to the lrrtqatlon sys~em. The salt problem, because of Its "build-up," has not been em easy one to handle. It has involved the lonq-suffertnq and patience of many Iarmer&. WJth the asalstonce of able E>nQlneers, soil sctenhsta and soli conRervotlonlsts, the farmers hove b ...n able to combat th problem aohsfoctortly. The Volley ts compose<! of relallve!y recent df>pestta of waler­ transporte<i soil. There ts no "top soli" In the usual S<Onse.