In partnership with the Fort Yuma Quechan Tribe, this project will relocate an irrigation pumping station and enrolling tribal land into a rotational fallowing program. A rotational fallowing program involves alternating periods of crop cultivation and fallowing/unplanted land to enhance soil health, manage pests, and improve water retention, thereby promoting sustainable agricultural practices.
The existing water pump is currently inefficient and prevents the Tribe from utilizing its full water rights. Relocating the Tribe’s water pump will enable more efficient water delivery and provide access to their full water rights, and it will also be powered by solar energy instead of diesel fuel. Updating the pump will allow the Tribe to implement a seasonal fallowing program that will reduce agricultural water demand and reallocate the saved water maintaining riparian habitat restoration, wetland water supply projects, and/or participate in water/system conservation programs that bolster levels at Lake Mead.
Minor Basin: Imperial Reservoir
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Quechan Tribe Water Delivery and Plant Nursery
The Quechan Tribe will use BEF funding to design, engineer, and construct a water delivery pipeline within the Bard Water District, near the California/Arizona border in Yuma, to address a bottleneck in the canal system. This improvement will enhance water access for Tribal farmers, supporting agricultural productivity and water management within the district.
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Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) Canal Lining
On their Tribal lands, the Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) used geomembrane and concrete to line a segment of a canal measured to have the highest seepage rate on the CRIT Irrigation Project to reduce conveyance loss, more efficiently and reliably deliver water for irrigation, and reduce demand at the CRIT Point of Diversion on the Colorado River. Over time, the project, in combination with a larger suite of irrigation modernization and fallowing actions, will generate “conserved water” that could be used for a variety of purposes that will benefit the CRIT community.
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Colorado River Indian Tribes Irrigation Modernization
Established in 1865, the Colorado River Indian Reservation was set aside for indigenous residents of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Today, the Reservation includes approximately 300,000 acres of lands and is primarily home to four distinct tribes – the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo. The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) have territory that stretches along 56 miles of lower Colorado River lands with the majority of their reservation located in Arizona.
Irrigation infrastructure on the CRIT lands are in a significant state of disrepair. The CRIT are implementing a number of projects to improve irrigation efficiency. These projects will increase resilience for tribal farm operations by maintaining irrigation for economic development; open the door for tribal water management that can support system conservation agreements to leave water in Lake Mead; open pathways to lease water to support non-tribal water uses in central Arizona; and create the potential to advance/expand environmental benefits on the CRIT reservation.
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CRIT Irrigation System Modernization
Established in 1865, the Colorado River Indian Reservation was set aside for indigenous residents of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Today, the Reservation includes approximately 300,000 acres of lands and is primarily home to four distinct tribes – the Mohave, Chemehuevi, Hopi, and Navajo. The Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) have territory that stretches along 56 miles of lower Colorado River lands with the majority of their reservation located in Arizona.
In an addition to our 2022 CRIT Irrigation Modernization project, CRIT will expand in installing precision drip irrigation on CRIT agricultural lands. The drip irrigation will replace the current flood irrigation system for alfalfa and cotton production. Drip irrigation is an efficient irrigation method compared to conventional flood irrigation and is expected to reduce water withdrawn from the Colorado River for farming on CRIT lands by 25-50%. Additionally, the improved irrigation is expected to produce a 10% increase in crop yield.