The All-American Canal is an long aqueduct, located in southeastern California. It conveys water from the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

into the

Imperial Valley , photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg , photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image. , map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg , map_caption = Map of Imperial ...

and to nine cities. It is the Imperial Valley's only water source, and replaced the

Alamo Canal The Alamo Canal ( es, Canal del Álamo) was a long waterway that connected the Colorado River to the head of the Alamo River. The canal was constructed to provide irrigation to the Imperial Valley. A small portion of the canal was located in th ...

, which was located mostly in Mexico. The

Imperial Dam The Imperial Diversion Dam (National ID # CA10159) is a concrete slab and buttress, ogee weir structure across the California/Arizona border, northeast of Yuma. Completed in 1938, the dam retains the waters of the Colorado River into the Impe ...

, about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of

Yuma, Arizona Yuma ( coc, Yuum) is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. The city's population was 93,064 at the 2010 census, up from the 2000 census population of 77,515. Yuma is the principal city of the Yuma, Arizona, M ...

on the Colorado River, diverts water into the All-American Canal, which runs to just west of

Calexico, California Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

before its last branch heads mostly north into the Imperial Valley. Five smaller canals branching off the All-American Canal move water into the Imperial Valley. These canal systems irrigate up to 630,000 acres (250,000 ha) of crop land and have made possible a greatly increased crop yield in this area, originally one of the driest on earth. It is the largest irrigation canal in the world, carrying a maximum of 26,155 cubic feet per second (740.6 m³/s).

Agricultural runoff Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pol ...

from the All-American Canal drains into the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gulf ...

. The All-American Canal runs parallel to the Mexico-California border for several miles. With over 500 people having drowned in the canal since its completion, it has been called "the Most Dangerous Body of Water in the U.S." The

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, commonly referred to as OEHHA (pronounced oh-EEE-ha), is a specialized department within the cabinet-level California Environmental Protection Agency ( CalEPA) with responsibility for evaluatin ...

has issued an advisory for any fish caught in the All-American Canal due to elevated levels of mercury, PCBs, and selenium.

History

The All-American Canal was authorized along with the Hoover Dam by the 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act and built in the 1930s by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

and Six Companies, Inc. Its design and construction was supervised by the Bureau's then chief designing engineer, John L. Savage and was completed in 1942.http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/jsavage.pdf John Lucian Savage Biography by Abel Wolman & W. H. Lyles, National Academy of Science, 1978. In 2016, the canal was designated as a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United State ...

by the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Operations

ALL-AMERICAN CANAL CARRIES COLORADO RIVER WATER THROUGH SAND-SWEPT AREA OF THE IMPERIAL VALLEY - NARA - 549076

Irrigation

The Bureau of Reclamation owns the canal, but the

Imperial Irrigation District The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) is an irrigation district that serves the Imperial Valley in Southern California. Established under the State Water Code, the IID supplies roughly of Imperial Valley farmland with raw Colorado River water ...

operates it. Water for the canal is diverted at the Imperial Diversion Dam. The All-American Canal feeds, from east to west, the

Coachella Canal The Coachella Canal is a aqueduct that conveys Colorado River water for irrigation northwest from the All-American Canal to the Coachella Valley north of the Salton Sea in Riverside County, California. The canal was completed in 1949 and is cur ...

, East Highline Canal, Central Main Canal, and the Westside Main Canal. These five main branches of the canal and a network of smaller canals gradually reduce the flow of the All-American Canal until it ends at a small drop in the western

where it drains into the Westside Main Canal. The main canal is , with a total drop of , a width of to and a depth of to . The canals get smaller as they run west because they carry less water.

Power

Eight hydroelectric power plants have been constructed along drops in the All-American Canal system. Drops 1 through 5, Pilot Knob, East Highline and Double Weir are located on the All-American Canal. Another power plant, Turnip, is located on the Central Main Canal branch. The power plants are all relatively small and have a combined capacity of 58 MW. Electricity generation is dictated by water delivery needs. There is also a 7.2 MW

pumped storage Pumping may refer to: * The operation of a pump, for moving a liquid from one location to another **The use of a breast pump for extraction of milk * Pumping (audio), a creative misuse of dynamic range compression * Pumping (computer systems), th ...

plant at Senator Wash Dam. Water from the Senator Wash Reservoir is released when water needs exceed flows at

Parker Dam Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River downstream of Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, it is high, of which are below the riverbed (the deep excavation was necessary in ...

Runoff

Runoff from the farmland irrigated by the All-American Canal make up most of the flows in the

Alamo River The Alamo River ( es, Río Álamo) flows west and north from the Mexicali Valley (Baja California) across the Imperial Valley (California). The river drains into the Salton Sea. The New River, Alamo River, and the Salton Sea of the 21st century ...

and New River, both of which drain into the

, now providing most of its water. The rest is from smaller rivers and drainage systems. Historically, the Salton Sea had been periodically flooded by extreme Colorado River floods and usually dried up before being reflooded. If not for the All-American Canal, the Salton Sea would have likely dried up long ago. The system transports silt, selenium and salts from the Colorado River into the Salton Sea. Because there is no outlet to the ocean, these salts and minerals are concentrated by evaporation.

The All-American Canal Lining Project

Approximately was lost annually by seepage from the All-American Canal, especially from the point where the canal crosses the great Algodones Dune Field. About 90% of this seepage entered Mexico. At first this seepage caused widespread flooding, but Mexicali Valley residents and businesses built drainage and pumping systems to recover the seepage. Mexicali Valley agriculture became reliant upon this seepage for irrigation. As water use increased in both rural and urban areas, this seepage became an issue of concern. The All-American Canal Lining Project, a part of California's Colorado River Water Use Plan, lined of the canal to prevent seepage.All-American Canal, California-Mexico border
Portions of the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

text of this

US government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...

article have been incorporated into this article. In 2006, a Mexicali business and civic organization and two California environmental non-profits challenged the lining project in US federal court on the basis that it violated the water rights of Mexican water users and violated US environmental statutes due to the seepage's effects on the nearby Andrade Mesa Wetlands. A rider in the

Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (, ), includes a package of tax extenders, provisions affecting health savings accounts and other provisions in the United States. Tax provisions Extenders The Act retroactively extended for two yea ...

required the completion of the lining project, however, and the lawsuit was rendered moot. The

built a parallel canal along the designated section of the original canal, and the water flow was rerouted into the new lined canal. Construction began in 2007 and was completed in 2009.

Drowning deaths

Over 500 people have drowned in the All-American Canal since its completion due to deep, cold water, steep sides that make escape difficult, and swift currents that can reach 5.45 mph (8.8 km/h). Many of those killed are

undocumented immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

attempting to cross the canal after passing the U.S.-Mexico border. Deaths peaked at 31 in 1998 after increased border security measures in San Diego forced migrants to cross the border in other areas. In 2011 the

allocated $1.1 milion in order to install lines with lifesaving buoys across the canal in 105 locations. Bilingual signs reading "Warning: Dangerous Water" were also installed in 1,414 locations along the canal.

References

External links

From the Colorado River to the Salton Sea: The story of Imperial Valley's Water (slideshow)

All-American Canal - Maven's Notebook

"Digging the World's Biggest Ditch", October 1936, Popular Science

- 60 Minutes Episode: The All-American Canal (May 2, 2010 5:00 PM)
{{Authority control Aqueducts in California Canals in Arizona Interbasin transfer Irrigation in the United States Coachella Valley Imperial Valley Lower Colorado River Valley Geography of the Colorado Desert Bodies of water of Imperial County, California Transportation buildings and structures in Imperial County, California Buildings and structures in Yuma County, Arizona United States Bureau of Reclamation Colorado River Canals opened in 1942 1942 establishments in California Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks