Data Collection Report - Flood Control District of Maricopa County

system, called the Sun Circle Trail, has been under development forseveral years along with a more recent proposal for a larger trailpreliminarily called the Maricopa County Trail. Consideration will begiven to combining parts of the proposed trail systems to new floodcontrol projects as much as is feasible.Maricopa County Planning and Development DepartmentThe Maricopa County Planning and Development Department isassociated with lands not yet annexed by one of the three cities in thestudy area. All development, rezoning, industrial expansion, and specialuse permits in these non-annexed areas, are reviewed by the County.The County Planning and Development Department is not active inpursuing a partnership for future drainage improvements and recreationalopportunities or cost-sharing opportunities for a flood control project.Salt River Project (SRP)Salt River Project owns and operates the majority of the canals andirrigation ditches in the study area. The Buckeye Feeder Canal is atailwater ditch that delivers a minimum of 40 cubic feet per second (cfs)of flow to the Buckeye Irrigation district west of the Agua Fria River.The Buckeye Feeder Canal is highly susceptible to overtopping andflooding the surrounding area during storm conditions, especially along115 th Ave, due to it’s alignment in a natural drainage flow path, and theconstrictions in the canal such as culverts and bends in alignment.Transferring the irrigation water in the Buckeye Feeder Canal to a pipeddelivery system is one possible solution according to SRP, however siltand mud entering the pipe from agricultural fields will have to beconsidered.Other known flooding problems that SRP has encountered include 91 stAve between Interstate 10 and the SPRR and the areas of 99 th Ave andSouthern Ave, 107 th Ave and Lower Buckeye Road, and the overtoppingof irrigation laterals at 67 th Ave and the Salt River.SRP generally prefers not to share their maintenance access roads for useas a public trail due to liability and daily maintenance access concerns.Another study area issue for SRP is that local on-site retention doesn’talways work, and storm water ends up in the irrigation ditches whichovertop and cause downstream flooding.Roosevelt Irrigation District (RID)The Roosevelt Irrigation District owns and operates the main RooseveltIrrigation District canal which is an open cut canal, and several smallerlateral canals such as the Salt Canal which are mostly piped undergroundand deliver groundwater from well-pump fields within the study area.The main concern and emphasis of the RID for the study, will becoordination so as not to conflict with existing pipes and canals. TheRID generally does not favor multi-use opportunities such as trails ontheir maintenance access roads, due to liability and operationalmaintenance concerns. All of the RID access roads are marked as “NoTrespassing” because the canals are stocked with fish for weed and algaecontrol and fishing in the canals is not permitted. Specific concerns andagreements with the RID will need to be addressed during thealternatives analysis.The RID also does not favor using their canals to dispose of excessstorm water, as they receive no benefit from it and there may bepollutants in the storm water causing issues further downstream.The only flooding problems known to the RID are the areas of 67 th Aveand 75 th Ave at the main canal, which is due to the elevated embankmentof the canal.G. Survey and MappingThe Flood Control District has had aerial photography flown for thisproject in January 1999. The study area has been reflown in January2000 for the purpose of developing a new color aerial photograph.Previous aerial mapping was performed in the study area as part of theMaryvale Area Drainage Master Study, flown April 21, 1994. There isexisting ground survey of certain features of the study area, such as theBuckeye Feeder Canal, which was prepared by SRP. The existingsurvey data will be correlated to the project datum and used as part ofthis study. Additionally, new survey has been performed for this projecton the Buckeye Feeder Canal and the Southern Pacific Railroad.DIBBLE & ASSOCIATES 7 DURANGO ADMPDATA COLLECTION REPORT