Red Lodge Clearinghouse

The Bureau of Reclamation owns 7,911 miles of canals in 17 Western states, the vast majority of them managed and operated by local irrigation and water districts. The review is happening at a time when demographics across the West have dramatically shifted from rural to urban. In Fernley, where the canal flooded nearly 600 homes, there are now hundreds of homes along the canal where just a decade ago there were primarily farm fields.

The now-urban areas will be the primary focus of the review, said Jeffrey McCracken, regional spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation in Sacramento. "We will focus initially on canals in those urbanized areas," he said. "There's a lot in the Phoenix area. The other real old one out West is up in the Klamath Basin" in northern California and southern Oregon. "The tragic situation that occurred on the Fernley canal is an impetus for these other irrigation districts and water districts to get on top of everything they can" (Scott Sonner, AP/Newsday, April 5).

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