McClusky Canal improvements
Date
1998-06
Authors
Schaack, Jerry, author
Jamison, Warren, author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
The McClusky Canal is a 74-miIe (119 kilometers) long channel. It was constructed from 1969 to 1976 for transporting water from the Missouri River Basin to the Red River Basin of the north, which is in the Hudson Bay Drainage Basin. The canal is one of the main features of the Garrison Diversion Unit (GDU), which was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, or more commonly called the Pick-Sloan Act. The McClusky Canal was designed with a capacity of about 2,000 cubic feet per second (56.6 cubic meters per second) to provide water for the Garrison Diversion Project to irrigate 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) and other purposes in the state of North Dakota in north central United States. The primary water supply for North Dakota is the Missouri River, therefore, water must be transported into the Red River basin to fully develop the water resource in that area. To transport water by gravity from the regulating reservoir (Lake Audubon) across the continental divide, it was necessary for the McClusky Canal to follow a meandering course and, at times, through over 100 foot (32.7 meters) deep cuts. Some design and construction deficiencies were also not rectified. and the Garrison Diversion project has never been completed nor operated to near its capacity or maintained properly, except during the past five years. Recent efforts to introduce legislation for project completion have renewed the need for rehabilitation and proper maintenance of the canal. The conditions mentioned above have contributed significantly to a general deterioration of the canal and have necessitated the need for major improvements and an upgraded O&M program. Some of the major problems which are being worked on are summarized briefly below: • Several miles have cuts as deep as 50 feet (16.4 meters) and one 2½ mile (4 kilometers) length has an average cut of 110 feet (36.1 meters). These factors, along with high ground water conditions and poor surface drainage, have contributed largely to severe sliding in some portions of the canal. • Much of the canal was not constructed with adequate side slope protection, resulting in severe erosion of some of the canal banks particularly at bends and areas susceptible to wind erosion (wind frequency and velocity is high in North Dakota). • Inadequate drainage of the upper berm slopes and on the O&M roads have resulted in erosion, puddling of water, and deterioration and of the O&M roads. • The O&M problems are significant: 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of right-of-way, 150 (240 kilometers) miles each of fence and O&M roads, five recreational lakes, numerous fish and wildlife areas and public access areas to O&M. This paper will describe and discuss the improvements and O&M which has been conducted during the past five years to upgrade this canal to satisfactory operating conditions. The uniqueness of this canal (very deep cuts, multiple uses, design deficiencies, inactivity, minimum O&M, and general deterioration) has required innovative and unique measures not normally needed for canal improvements and O&M.
Description
Presented at Contemporary challenges for irrigation and drainage: proceedings from the USCID 14th technical conference on irrigation, drainage and flood control held on June 3-6, 1998 in Phoenix, Arizona.