Local canals are filling up with water deliveries for farmers as the Merced Irrigation District kicks off the 1999 irrigation season. The technology is designed to make us more responsive in filling water orders, more efficient in water distribution, thereby reducing operational spills. We get water where it needs to go quicker and more efficiently. Also, spill recovery systems on the Livingston Canal, Bear Creek and Mariposa Creek will re-use water that would have been lost, further improving efficiency.
Farmers can access the information via computer.
MID on Friday, March 12, began diversions from the Main Canal to start filling the irrigation system. Water was scheduled to reach the headworks of the District's distribution areas on Monday, March 15. As water fills each distribution area, irrigation will begin in that area. Gravity irrigation service should be available to all growers throughout the system no later than Friday, March 19, said Selb. The California Department of Water Resources just released its April through July runoff forecast update for the Merced River, at 620,000 acre-feet, or 101 percent of average.