IRRIGATED CROP
Harvesting produce is a labor-intensive process.
Growing Lettuce in Yuma
M
ost of the winter produce consumed in the United States and Canada is grown in the Yuma, Arizona, region, in Southern California, and in Northern Mexico, and most is processed in Yuma before being shipped out to supermarkets across the country. While the average consumer in the produce aisle of a supermarket may not give a second thought to their lettuce’s provenance, there is actually a highly efficient process for harvesting, shipping, and selling Yuma’s winter crops within a matter of hours. In this interview, Tom Davis, the general manager of the Yuma County Water Users’ Association (YCWUA), speaks with Irrigation Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about the growing, harvesting, and processing of Arizona produce. Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
26 | IRRIGATION LEADER
Joshua Dill: What facilities does YCWUA have, and who are its customers? Tom Davis: YCWUA operates under contract with Reclamation to divert and deliver Colorado River water from the All-American Canal (AAC) through the project’s canal and delivery system to agricultural lands in the Yuma Valley. It’s a gravity-flow system that was designed and constructed by Reclamation at the turn of the 20th century. The original construction costs were repaid to the federal government decades ago. Our shareholders are the landowners and water right owners that we deliver water to. There are upwards of 1,000 shareholders. Their water rights are attached to their land. The association is just a canal delivery company. We divert water from the AAC, generate and market hydro power, operate and maintain the system, and measure and deliver water to the farmers’ private irrigation ditches. We allocate water on an annual basis to each acre of water right. We assess each acre of water right a tax which makes up most of our operations and maintenance budget. Each acre is allocated 5 acre-feet of water. If that amount is beneficially used, the grower may purchase additional water. Our members have a present perfected water right, which means that beneficial use is the limit and measure of the water right.
PHOTO COURTESY OF YCWUA.
Tom Davis: I previously managed an irrigation district on the Lower Pecos River in New Mexico. I became general manager of YCWUA 12 years ago. Associations are different than irrigation districts: Associations are private companies, while irrigation districts are quasi-municipalities of state governments. Most of the Bureau of Reclamation’s projects in the West are irrigation districts; there are only a few water users’ associations, although many irrigation districts were originally formed as water users’ associations. YCWUA operates under an operations and maintenance contract with Reclamation and was incorporated with the territory
of Arizona in 1903, right after the Reclamation Act was signed into law in 1902.
