Irrigation Yuma Essay

According to the Great Plain Drought Area Committee Report (Doc. D), in 1879, 10 million acres of crop were harvested. 20 years later, in 1899, 50 million acres of crops were harvested, 5 times more crops than in 1879. In 1929, that number more than doubled to a 105 million acres of crops that were harvested. How did happen? Farming technology advanced rapidly from 1879 to 1929. In “The Worst Hard Time” by Timothy Egan (Doc. C), Egan wrote, “A tractor did the work of ten horses. With his new combine, Folkers could cut and thresh the grain in one swoop, using just a fraction of the labor.” The new farming technology made farming faster and it required less labor. Farmers had this new technology and used it to plow more land. Millions of acres were being plowed and farmed on and with the dry soil and no grass to keep it on the ground the dust became airborne and started grouping together and creating terrible storms.

One of the largest geographic physical structures in the United States is the Colorado River. Human activity and its interaction with this great river have an interesting history. The resources provided by the river have been used by humans, and caused conflict for human populations as well. One of these conflicts is water distribution, and the effects drought conditions have played in this distribution throughout the southwestern region. Major cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other communities in the southwest depend on the river. It provides water for over 20 million people, irrigation for 2 million acres of land, four thousand megawatts of hydroelectric energy, and over twenty million annual visitors for

Warmer temperatures in Arizona in river has been leading to more evaporation. The water that is being used by plants and soil experience evapotranspiration which has accounted for a loss of at least half-million acre-feet of water annually.

During Hydromaint's audit, you and Pam had a number of discussions. You, Pam, and Mike Johnson are generally satisfied that the accounts are in accordance with GAAP and are supported by underlying facts. Pam tested Jerry's pension accounting (which she found to be correct) by preparing a pension worksheet based on data contained in the actuary's report:

Drought condition exists throughout most of Arizona. Variable amounts of rainfall throughout last year’s where was significantly below the normal with surface water flows, reservoir levels, and well water pumping levels are at some of their lowest ever recorded all of that act as indication of drought occurrence. Drought is a normal recurring feature of climate, not a rare or random event. Climate influence water quality throughout temperature, precipitation, and wind by affecting the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of water. For instance, temperature fluctuation results in more stress on aquatic organism within water body, in the same way wind fluctuation has a direct effect on evaporation rate. Municipal water providers in Flagstaff, Williams, Mayer, Pine, Strawberry, and in areas near Sierra Vista, Sonoita, and Picacho have suffered from some potable

`Many farmers settled in the Southern Plains and started to grow their crops their. The were prosperous for decades. The crops grew extremely well, and the farmers prospered. However when the 1930s hit, so did droughts and clouds of dust. They plagued nearly seventy-five percent of the U.S.

When the Yuma Project began more people from different places migrated here. The invention of water canals became together providing water year long and when other places were dry people found the way to come here and live. Most of these people would work on the fields growing crops. The Yuma Project was important in many ways. One important factor is construction on the city. Over time there was not much places where people can enjoy the day or stay at a home. The results had people staying at these homes to work and make a living. When many canals were built there would be occurring floods. A flood hit in 1916 in the city of Yuma causing reconstruction on the city. When it was all payed for the buildings were built better. When the canals break free construction workers would use leaves to fix there problem. Canals were one of the other important sources in Yuma. The Laguna Dam was built resulting flowing water and irrigation issues were not more of an

There are many different ways irrigation has changed Yuma and the rest of Southern Arizona very drastically. Irrigation has existed in Southern Arizona and Yuma County since the 1800’s. Irrigation has been practiced in the Algodones Grant with a view to determine if gravity canals would be effective for irrigation. 50,000 to 60,000 acres are extremely fertile and are very capable of producing crops when there is a sufficient amount of water given for irrigation to take place. “Water is too valuable to use on farms” was a myth in the 1900’s about irrigation but there is 80% of the Colorado River water the is used in agriculture. Agriculture business in Yuma county has changed

In his book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner’s main thesis is to show the inefficiency, greed, and inherent difficulty in the American West’s never-ending struggle to turn its unwelcoming desert into a lush garden. One of his main sub-points is that the West is not meant to support millions of people. It has a wide range of geographic challenges throughout the entire region. Its inconsistency and diversity is a primary cause of its water problems. For example, Reisner notes that the West consists of “plains so arid that they could barely support bunchgrass; deserts that were fiercely hot and fiercely cold; streams that flooded a few weeks each year and went dry the rest; forests with trees so large it might take days to bring one down; . . . hail followed by drought followed by hail;” (23).

4. What challenges did the developers of the land in Yuma County had to overcome?

Yuma has came a very long way with irrigation. With Yuma being so dry and having sand it was easy to plant soil and make canals and dams. There has been major challenges, and many successful achievements for irrigation, with flooding, sediment removings, and building the canals.

As we all know, water is essential for mankind's survival. However, people seem to believe that our water supply is endless since there is more water than land on this Earth. Water regenerates and is redistributed through evaporation, making it seem endlessly renewable. So why worry?

Prior to settlement of the western United States, the Colorado River roamed free. Starting from cool mountain streams, the river eventually became a thunderous, silty force of nature as it entered the canyons along its path. The river nourished wetlands and other riparian habitats from the headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the delta at the Sea of Cortez in Northwest Mexico. Settlers along the river harnessed these waters mainly for agriculture via irrigation canals, but flooding from spring runoff wreaked havoc on agricultural land, prevented development in the floodplain and full utilization of the water, a waste in the eyes of western farmers. In order to meet current and future water demands in the west, the Federal Government

HYDROLOGIC CYCLE The hydrologic cycle is a constant movement of water above, on, and below the earth's surface. It is a cycle that replenishes ground water supplies. It begins as water vaporizes into the atmosphere from vegetation, soil, lakes, rivers, snowfields and oceans-a process called evapotranspiration. As the water vapor rises it condenses to form clouds that return water to the land through precipitation: rain, snow, or hail. Precipitation falls on the earth and either percolates into the soil or flows across the ground. Usually it does both. When precipitation percolates into the soil it is called infiltration when it flows across the ground it is called surface run off. The amount of precipitation that infiltrates, versus the

This paper discovers the water budget for Berkeley, California in comparison to Terre Haute, Indiana. The two cities precipitation differs throughout the twelve month calendar year where many of the heavy precipitation months are totally opposite. Berkeley California’s winters, where the majority of rain occurs and Terre Haute, Indiana where the rainfall is observed as consistently disseminated throughout the year evenly. This paper will also magnify geographic position, climate and elevation in contrast of the two cities that reflects the water budget outlined in Project 1: Water Balance defined in