Greenfields Irrigation District: Finalist in the Bureau of Reclamation’s Canal Safety Challenge
A concept drawing of GID’s Inclined Stepped Ramp concept, as seen from the side.
G
reenfields Irrigation District (GID), based in Fairfield, Montana, serves 750 customers on more than 130,000 acres of land. With 600 miles of canals, many in locations that are difficult to fully close off from trespassers, canal safety is a serious concern. Recently, GID participated in the Bureau of Reclamation’s Canal Safety Challenge, and its proposal landed it as a finalist in the competition. In this interview, District Manager Erling Juel tells us about GID and its participation in the canal safety competition.
of main canals and laterals, including drains. The district is 100 years old, and our water rights date back to 1905. Our main crops are malting barley for cattle feed and beer. Another big portion of our production is hay and irrigated pasture for livestock production, and we also have a lot of winter wheat. We have 750 individual landowners and water users.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Erling Juel: Yes. Our largest canal runs at 1,700 cubic feet per second (cfs). Most of our canals are one-bank contour earthen canals. We also have a good share of concrete ditches. The smallest canals run about 5 cfs. Our canals are not like those in Arizona and California. Ours are in a more rural and natural setting and have earthen side slopes, making them easier to get in and out of. But because of our mountainous terrain, we have numerous siphons and drops. Our main safety concerns are focused on our siphons, drop structures, pipelines, and tunnels, which are dangerous. A lot of people think it would be fun to raft over a drop structure, but at the terminus of a drop structure is a plunge pool, but people drown in these because the violent nature of energy dissipation prevents them from escaping.
Erling Juel: I worked in the private sector as a geotechnical engineer and was the president and CEO of a large, regional engineering firm before retiring in 2015. As an encore career, I have been working for GID for the last 6 years. It’s been both an honor and a challenge. While I have worked for many irrigation districts in the past as an engineering consultant, managing one is quite different.
Erling Juel: GID is a Reclamation project located in northcentral Montana. Our district covers about 133,000 acres, about 83,000 of which are irrigated. We have about 500–600 miles
20 | IRRIGATION LEADER | October 2021
Irrigation Leader: Can these canals be fenced off? irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF GID.
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about GID.
Irrigation Leader: Are there a lot of safety concerns associated with your canals?
