Reclamation district

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Reclamation districts are a form of special-purpose districts in the United States (and possibly other countries) which are responsible for reclaiming and/or maintaining land that is threatened by permanent or temporary flooding for agricultural, residential, commercial, or industrial use. The land is reclaimed by removing and/or preventing water from returning via systems of levees, dikes, drainage ditches, and pumps.

United States Federal republic in North America

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country comprising 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

Commerce relates to "the exchange of goods and services, especially on a large scale". It includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural and technological systems that operate in a country or in international trade.

Industry production of goods or service of a given field within an economy

An industry is the production of goods or related services within an economy. The major source of revenue of a group or company is the indicator of its relevant industry. When a large group has multiple sources of revenue generation, it is considered to be working in different industries. Manufacturing industry became a key sector of production and labour in European and North American countries during the Industrial Revolution, upsetting previous mercantile and feudal economies. This came through many successive rapid advances in technology, such as the production of steel and coal.

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Reclamation Districts in the United States

Many American reclamation districts were established prior to 1900 when local land owners first started working to put new land into agricultural production. Much of the lands "reclaimed" by 19th century reclamation districts were natural wetlands. Since wetlands are subject to flooding, these lands often were adjacent to sources of water, making them ideal for growing irrigated crops. Furthermore, the soils of wetlands also proved to be excellent for crops.

Though the original use of most of the reclaimed land was for agriculture, increasing urbanization has changed the land use of areas protected by the districts. Today fewer wetlands are being reclaimed, leaving districts primarily responsible for maintaining the existing systems used to keep the land within their jurisdiction dry. Since reclamation districts were formed with the purpose of reclaiming specific areas of land (hence their name), they are often defined by the extent of land they protect. Different sides of a river often will fall under the jurisdiction of different reclamation districts.

Urbanization longterm population movements (shift) from rural to urban areas;gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to the change;process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger

Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural areas to urban areas, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas. Although the two concepts are sometimes used interchangeably, urbanization should be distinguished from urban growth: urbanization is "the proportion of the total national population living in areas classed as urban", while urban growth refers to "the absolute number of people living in areas classed as urban". The United Nations projected that half of the world's population would live in urban areas at the end of 2008. It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized. That is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050, much of which will occur in Africa and Asia. Notably, the United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will be by cities, about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the next 13 years.

Federal, state, and local governments all interact with reclamation districts. In states like California the districts can operate under their own authority. The California Reclamation Districts occupy mostly the Central Valley area that drains into the San Francisco Bay. However, if the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, [1] which is responsible for monitoring California reclamation districts, determines that a local district is not adequately maintaining its levee system, the Board has the power to authorize the California Department of Water Resources to establish a maintenance area and essentially take responsibility of the levee.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 9.7 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second-most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

California Reclamation Districts are legal subdivisions within California's Central Valley that are responsible for managing and maintaining the levees, fresh water channels, or sloughs, canals, pumps, and other flood protection structures in the area. Each is run autonomously and is run by an elected board and funded with taxes to property owners in the local area. However, the Central Valley Flood Protection Board has the power to determine that a district is not satisfactorily maintaining the structures and causing the California Department of Water Resources to declare an area as a maintenance area.

Central Valley (California) Flat valley that dominates central California

The Central Valley is a flat valley that dominates the geographical center of the U.S. state of California. It is 40 to 60 miles wide and stretches approximately 450 miles (720 km) from north-northwest to south-southeast, inland from and parallel to the Pacific Ocean coast. It covers approximately 18,000 square miles (47,000 km2), about 11% of California's total land area. The valley is bounded by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the Coast Ranges to the west.

Typically, reclamation districts are run by elected board members who often own property or work on land in the districts. The costs of maintaining the levees are paid for by taxes that are placed on property owners. In times of emergency, reclamation districts will appeal to county, state, and federal agencies for additional funds necessary to repair levees.

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Reclaimed water Converting wastewater into water that can be reused for other purposes

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Levee breach situation where a levee fails or is intentionally breached, causing the previously contained water to flood

A levee breach or levee failure is a situation where a levee fails or is intentionally breached, causing the previously contained water to flood the land behind the levee.

From 1890 through 2006, the Orleans Levee Board was the body of commissioners that oversaw the Orleans Levee District (OLD) which supervised the levee and floodwall system in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The role of the OLD has changed over time. Prior to Hurricane Betsy in 1965, the OLD developed land and sold it to raise money to build and improve levees. After 1965, Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers to be responsible for design and construction of the hurricane flood protection system enveloping New Orleans.

Suisun Marsh

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Environment of California

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The Flood Control Act of 1928 authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and construct projects for the control of floods on the Mississippi River and its tributaries as well as the Sacramento River in California. It was sponsored by Sen. Wesley L. Jones (R) of Washington and Rep. Frank R. Reid (R) of Illinois, in response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

Water in California water systems in the U.S. state of California

California's interconnected water system serves over 30 million people and irrigates over 5,680,000 acres (2,300,000 ha) of farmland. As the world's largest, most productive, and most controversial water system, it manages over 40 million acre feet (49 km3) of water per year.

Irrigation in Iran covers 89,930 km2 making it the fifth ranked country in terms of irrigated area.

Yuma Project

The Yuma Project is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project built to irrigate over 68,000 acres (280 km2) of land in Yuma County, Arizona and parts of Imperial County, California. The project is designed to exploit year-round farming conditions and water from the Colorado River. It consists of the Laguna Diversion Dam, pumping plants, a power plant, a 53-mile (85 km) system of canals, 218 miles (351 km) of lateral canals, levees and drains. The project began in 1903 and the majority of the work was completed by 1915. It was the first dam and reclamation project on the Colorado River and workers had to overcome many natural and logistical obstacles to build and maintain it. The Laguna Diversion Dam was replaced by the Imperial Dam as the Project's water source between 1941 and 1948. Today, it serves 275 farms and over 94,000 people.

Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District

The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) was formed in 1925 to manage the irrigation systems and control floods in the Albuquerque Basin. It is responsible for the stretch of river from the Cochiti Dam in Sandoval County in the north, through Bernalillo County, Valencia County and Socorro County to the Elephant Butte Reservoir in the south. It manages the Angostura, Isleta and San Acacia diversion dams, which feed an extensive network of irrigation canals and ditches.

Middle Rio Grande Project

The Middle Rio Grande Project manages water in the Albuquerque Basin of New Mexico, United States. It includes major upgrades and extensions to the irrigation facilities built by the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and modifications to the channel of the Rio Grande to control sedimentation and flooding. The bulk of the work was done by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and the United States Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s, but construction continued into the 1970s and maintenance is ongoing. The project is complementary to the San Juan-Chama Project, which transfers water from the San Juan River in the Colorado River Basin to the Rio Grande. Although distribution of water from the two projects is handled through separate allotments and contracts, there is some sharing of facilities including the river itself. The ecological impact on the river and the riparian zone was the subject of extended litigation after a group of environmentalists filed Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Bureau of Reclamation in 1999.

References

  1. ↑ Central Valley Flood Protection Board Retrieved: 8/18/2010
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