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had only enough energy to shower and have a quick bite to
eat before falling into bed. They all returned to the job site to
resume working by 5 a.m. on Friday morning.
On Friday the work of hauling material, spreading, shaping,
and compacting the new canal bank continued. The
crew remained on the job until 8:30 Friday evening, when
they finished the job and water once again flowed through
the main canal to serve farmers and ranchers in the valley.
However, the work had only begun for water master
Don Mastvelten and the ditch riders. Mastvelten began priming
the main canal on Friday afternoon
and worked nearly non-stop
through the weekend and into Monday
July 2 to stabilize the canal and
ensure water delivery. Once the canal
was primed, ditch riders began a
long week of hard work to make sure
individual users received water. This
process took time because of high
demand, and also required some
water rationing to enable ditch riders
to get water to all users in need. "Don
(Mastvelten) worked without a break
for three days," Brower notes. "Because
the heat, there was an enormous
demand for water during this
time, so it took a week to stabilize
water levels in the main canal and
the laterals. Because of this high
demand, water rationing was
introduced for a week. Farmers
cooperated during this time
and coped with the fluctuating
water levels."
He adds, "Historically, this
was one of the shortest water
outages we have had for a
washout on the main canal
bank."
Brower feels the entire
LYIP crew deserves a word of
praise. "These men are heroes
for working so hard to restore
water to the users," he remarks.
"They did a fantastic
job of getting water back in the
canal so quickly."
Following the washout incident,
Brower and Mastvelten
spent three days inspecting
the entire canal, looking for
damage and evaluating high
water marks. They found several
areas in need of cleaning
and maintenance, so the LYIP
plans to initiate serious canal
maintenance work in the fall
and over the coming winter. "It
Ag Roundup August 2012 11
is important to minimize damage and flooding in emergencies,
so we will do main canal maintenance and clean drains
and laterals to reduce this potential damage," he comments.
Brower and Mastvelten also examined the records for
the past three years and determined that this year's water
levels were normal or below previous years' high water marks.
The LYIP work crew spent a lot of time and energy to
ensure water users could resume irrigating as quickly as
possible. They all deserve a word of thanks and a pat on the
back for their tremendous effort.
Water from the main canal washout flooded several fields and a county road.
LYIP crews used a trackhoe, a
dozer, and a sheep's foot
compactor loaned to them from
the County to repair the main
canal washout.