The management of water in the Verde Valley area is typically unstructured and undocumented. There are about 30 ditch groups that have been organized to operate and maintain various diversion, conveyance, and discharge facilities that supply river water to the agricultural water users of the Verde Valley. A summary of available data by these ditch groups is shown in Table 1. These groups are estimated to serve more than 5000 acres that are irrigated by more than 1300 water uses. The landowners along the ditch group s canals are commonly responsible for taking water out of the canals.
Water is diverted directly out of the streams to service the water users.
There are estimated to be about 84 miles of main supply canals in the valley. Flood irrigation applies the water with furrows, borders and checks sometimes being used to facilitate spreading the water on the land. The need exists for a more organized and structured effort towards the management of the irrigation water. Efforts in this regard were tried in the 70 s but were not successful. With the court s pending adjudication of the basin s water in the process, it is even more imperative that the Valley s water users organize and become more proactive in the management of their water resources.