Verde River – Mason Lane Automated Headgate
Mason Lane Headgate is located behind Page Springs Winery, a scenic vineyard, in Yavapai County. The Mason Lane Ditch is the largest diversion on beautiful Oak Creek, a tributary of the Verde River. It serves more than 70 users, irrigating over 230 acres of land, sustaining regional agriculture and food systems. The proposed project seeks to replace an outdated and inefficient irrigation diversion system with a modern, automated headgate system at the current point of diversion for the Mason Lane Ditch.
The new system will allow irrigators to more precisely control the amount of water that they divert out of Oak Creek and into the Mason Lane ditch. As a result, irrigators will have the ability to divert only the amount of water needed for their crops.
Previously, the Mason Lane diversion diverted the entire flow of Oak Creek under low flow conditions. With the new infrastructure in place, it is expected that the Mason Lane ditch users will divert far less water from the river, and river flows particularly during low flow conditions, will be enhanced as a result of the project. Enhanced river flows will support recreation, fish and wildlife, water quality, and scenic amenities in Oak Creek.
* Project supports agricultural water use efficiency to reduce the amount of water withdrawn from surface or groundwater sources.