Page 1 The California ""- Geographer Annual Publication of the ...

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THE l\IIEXICALI VALLEY \VATER PROBLEM . JOl-IN c. ARCHBOLD San Diego City Schools The Mexicali Valley of Baja California has become a prime producer of cotton and one of the world's great processors of raw cotton. General argiculture has flourished, too. Like a phoenix arisen from the desert this region has been reclaimed from the arid conditions that have gripped the entire area since before the white man arrived. Now, salinity left in the soil by draining irrigation waters threatens to wipe out the progress of half a century. Only salt-tolerant cotton may survive conditions which have become an international issue. North of the border in the summer of 1961 the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation completed the vVellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District project. The $14,000,000 drainage system includes 70 deep drainage wells with pumps, and a 50-mile concrete-lined conveyance channel with an outfall on the Gila River above Yuma, Arizona (Figure 1). Drainage water being pumped in the Wellton-Mohawk system is not return Bow in the usual sense of the word, but water accumulated over a long period of tirrie as a result of interior drainage. From before the turn of the century until 1952, Wellton-Mohawk farmers depended upon underground flow of the Gila River for irrigation water.1 The quality of this water was uniformly so poor that it was disclosed in testimony before the United States Senate in 1945 that the irrigated area was down to 8,000 acres (as of 1943; later, even less was in crops) and that samples were taken showing a salt content of 12,000 parts per million.2 In 1952, Colorado River water became available with the completion of the Gila Project. As substantial amounts of water were used to leach accumulated salts, 50,000 acres were soon in crops and much of the land quickly became waterlogged. The drainage project was designed to alleviate this problem. Pumping this water and conveying it to the Gila created many problems. The city of Yuma reacted almost immediately, abandoning its source of municipal water from the Colorado below its confluence with the Gila, and making arrangements to obtain water upstream. The areas under discussion are included in Figure 4. The farmers of the Mexicali Valley were hit by high salt loads almost immediately thereafter, with · disastrous losses resulting. MEXICALI F ARl\fERS PROTEST. What were the complaints of the Mexicali farmers? Newspaper ancT other accounts first reported protests about water diverted at Morelos Dam which was used to irrigate grains in the fall of 1961. Water had not been ordered in advance for use on these crops, which had germinated early due to rains. Water tal
California 1 Miles 0 5 10 15 Figure 1 48 N Arizona
Page 1 and 2: The California ""- Geographer ' Ann
Page 4 and 5: A Modified Koppen Classification of
Page 6 and 7: This is not to say that the Koppen
Page 8 and 9: Mean Monthly and Seasonal Precipita
Page 10 and 11: It was also discovered that the bou
Page 12 and 13: Mean Monthly Temperatures (in F. o)
Page 14 and 15: Except for the various changes ment
Page 16 and 17: BIBLIOGRAPHY Ackerman, E.A., "The K
Page 18 and 19: PLANNING GEOGRAPHY IN THE CURRICULU
Page 20 and 21: angements of features which when in
Page 22: propriate name for these "fortran f
Page 25 and 26: The most numerous concerns are thos
Page 27 and 28: island of Makatea, long had the mon
Page 29 and 30: Cocorape in Paea, 19 kilometers sou
Page 31 and 32: vanilla and coconUt products accoun
Page 34 and 35: COASTAL GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF LA
Page 36 and 37: Although common salt is among the l
Page 38 and 39: Rainfall is slight. In 1938 and aga
Page 40 and 41: A 50-mile road net surrounding the
Page 42 and 43: TWO KEYS FOR THE HISTORICAL INTERPR
Page 44 and 45: proto-types are discussed here. It
Page 46 and 47: Although not nearly as extensive in
Page 48 and 49: KEY 2: A DICHOTOMOUS ELIMINATION KE
Page 50 and 51: not bflen practiced. The ard, suppo
Page 54 and 55: a part ot 1Vlex1co s LJowrado water
Page 56: and v�rious combinations of these
Page 59 and 60: in Spain" or the image of the Ameri
Page 61 and 62: Baldridge, Kenneth, A History of th
Page 63 and 64: Bryant, Edwin, What I Saw in Califo
Page 65 and 66: Coy, Owen C., In the Diggings in 'F
Page 67 and 68: Dyke, Dorothy, Transportation in th
Page 69 and 70: Goodwin, Cardinal L., The Establish
Page 71 and 72: Hellman, Margery S., "Port Costa, C
Page 73 and 74: Johnson, William G., Overland to Ca
Page 75 and 76: Lewis, Ruth R., "Kaweah : An Experi
Page 77 and 78: 1846-1875, unpublished master's the
Page 79 and 80: Potter, David M. (editor), Tmil to
Page 81 and 82: Ryan, William Redmond, Personal Adv
Page 83 and 84: Thompson, John, "The Settlement Geo
Page 85 and 86: Wheeler, May, John A. Sutter, A Cal
Page 87: ExEcuTIVE BoARD Officers and Member

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