Grover’s Hill Irrigation District – St. Johns, AZ

Grover’s Hill Irrigation District (GHID) serves roughly 275 users across 1,705 acres of farmland in Saint Johns, Arizona, supplying water that supports alfalfa production for livestock, grazing pastures, and supplemental garden watering in Apache County. For years, the District relied on the Lyman Ditch, an open irrigation canal that lost a significant amount of water to evaporation and seepage, a common challenge for agricultural districts using open delivery systems.

The need for change became clear in 2019, when flooding damaged the Lyman Ditch and redirected runoff onto local roads, causing erosion and forcing the closure of US-191. GHID recognized that an enclosed pipeline could prevent this kind of unintentional diversion while also addressing the chronic water loss tied to the open canal.  The PE Alliance engineering team provided significant support to the consulting civil engineer (Robert Toy PE) during the design process.  To solve both problems, GHID enclosed 5.5 miles of the open ditch canal with 48-inch IPS DR 32.5 HDPE pipe. The material’s smooth interior surface allows water to move at a faster rate than the old canal while reducing sediment buildup, and its fused, leak-free joints all but eliminate the seepage that plagued the open system. District officials estimate the enclosed pipeline will save approximately 1,789 acre-feet of water annually.

Contractor E.W. Parker worked with GHID and Core & Main, who supplied the pipe and technical support, to install roughly 29,000 feet of pipeline using open trench methods. Crews used two McElroy fusion machines, with one team fusing pipe and another feeding it into the trench, reaching installation rates upwards of 900 linear feet per day, beating engineering estimates. Following the existing canal alignment also allowed the team to avoid acquiring new easements. 8” EF branch saddles installed after the main line are expected to save another 400 acre-feet per year by removing the leakage typical of old sluice gates.

Beyond conserving water, the upgrade helps local farmers qualify for NRCS funding aimed at replacing flood irrigation with more efficient methods, giving the Apache County farming community a more dependable water supply for years to come.

Image: Robert Toy, P.E.