The Shasta County Grand Jury is recommending some drastic steps for the Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District Canal. The unprecedented dry up of the A.C.I.D. Canal in 2022 caused severe damage to the 107-year-old aquaduct that led to major losses. It was a drought year and the Bureau of Reclamation said it could only provide 18% of contracted water to the canal. The district board decided that trickle of water would not even make it far enough to reach any customers, so they sold the rights downstream. The drought was devastating, not only to the 10,000 acres of irrigated land, but to residential groundwater users who benefited from the the seepage, as well as wildlife and centuries-old trees. The dry-up also damaged the canal’s ability to contain water, with the prior seepage losses of 30% getting closer to 50% after the drought ended in 2023 with torrential rains. Some neighborhoods in Anderson complained last year about heavy flooding while some agricultural customers in Cottonwood said that most of the water was gone before it reached them. The canal is 35 miles long from the diversion dam at Caldwell Park to the terminus at Cottonwood Creek with over a hundred miles of lateral canals. About 98% of that is unlined. The Grand Jury recommends modernization measures, including the removal of the diversion dam at Caldwell Park, to be replaced by a different intake further downriver. The district can’t afford it, but the Grand Jury suggests they apply for grant funding
-Steve Gibson