Bi-County Irrigation

Glenn Colusa Irrigation District is located in the heart of the Sacramento Valley, Calif., and supplies water from the Sacramento River through a 65-mile long irrigation canal into a complex system of more than 900 miles of laterals and drains to over 1,200 families who farm approximately 141,000 acres of valuable, productive agricultural land. GCID has been diverting river water since 1883 and was one of the first large-scale water users within the Sacramento Valley delivering water to 20,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat comprising the Sacramento, Delevan, and Colusa National Wildlife refuges. GCID diverts a maximum of 3,000 cubic feet or water per second, with the peak demand occurring in the spring, often at the same time as the peak out-migration of juvenile salmon. GCID in partnership with the United States Bureau of Reclamation, completed construction of fish screens at its Hamilton City pump station in 2000. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a gradient facility on the mainstream to restore and stabilize the river channel and surface water elevations at the fish screen to ensure safe fish passage conditions and effective screen performance.