Imperial Valley press., 1941-02-26
D..ta Sent To Boulder

E AIS in the afternoon the divi-
iopal water requirement is phoned
0 general headquarters at Imperial.
Added together, these divisional de-
mandS make up the valleys total
requirement for the next day. 10
this is added the requirements in
Mexico and the total is telephoned
| to lockwood heading where the
water is shunted out OF the Colorado
river. From here the demand is
relayed to the Reclamation Service
| headquarters in Yuma and in turn
relayed to Boulder Dam, 300 miles
upstream.
With this information. coupled
with similar data from three other
water projects on that section OF
the river, Boulder dam authorities
know how much water to keep flow
ing through the dams gates. 1t
takes about 10 days for water to
move from Boulder to Andrade,
where lockwood heading is located,
so river authorities must anticipate
general demands we'll in advance.
The water that guigleS past the
gates at lockwood heading, not Tar
from the Mexican border, varies III
! sloW according to the valleys de-
mands. Normal requirements are
| between six and eight thousand sec
ond feet.
From lockwood heading the mur-
ky water enters the Alamo canal
! l25 feet vice and 25 feet deep-for
a sc mile loop through Mexico and
back 10 the states. First heading
/ % strike IS HanlOn gates and later
| comes Cudahy check where the wa
/ ter divides and some goes into tho
/ Golfatcra line for a longer swing
before it il turn finally reaches
] The etatcs.
Swings North
| Tie Alamo. however. swings north
for the border beyond Cudahy and
Il Lawrence heading, about two
niles fr0m tic international boun-
darg line. gives up part of It's
water 10 the Eastside nighline. That
s. il used to. Now. however. the
Eastsidc highline is fed by the All
American canal Therefore. the
Alamos flow continues on to Sharp's
heading and eventually becomes the
Westside main, vast central water
artery for the valley. From it shoot
off the Alamitos and from 1t the
Ash.
In the meantime. the Solfatera has
made wide swing ana comes north
on the Westernmost edge Of the
district to become the westside main.
Over this system OF waterways
that shunts a part OF the Colorado
river back and forth as it is needed
reigns a multitude OF men. At the
| top is a board of directors that
numbers five, one man from each
Of five divisions in the valley elect
ed by popular ballot ior four year
terms. At their head is chairman
7ho is the executive chief of the
district
B-reath these men the control
7preacs cut il d great fan through
Chief engineer and general super
ntendcat VI. J. DoWd, Supcrinten-
dent of Water Distribution aad
D taiaage Elmer Hartzog, Business
Manager r. H M2ddaX. Sup2rln-
,.ndcnts head each Of the seven
divisions. Calexico. Holtville, El Cen
tro. Imperial. BraWley, Calipat"la
and Wastmorland. Each division a.
practical takes care of its Own
maintenance and operation. When
repair work or large maintenance
requires the use Of heavy equip
ment. this is usually taken care OF
through main headquarters at I'M
perial.
Backbone of District
But just as the serg2ants and the
corporals and the rank and file
are the backbone of an army, so
are the zanjeros the backbone OF
the district water delivery service.
A zanjero puts in his day some
thing like this. He starts his run
about Z am. The length of his run
is based both on mileage and amount