Pumping irrigation water from the Colorado River

The Colorado River isn’t very big here, but there’s still enough water in it to drop a pump and irrigate a crop.

This is on a weird little geographic island, a chunk of land that is on the west (California) side of the river, but legally in Arizona – left stranded when the Colorado River meandered back on itself after the borders were drawn. Because of this clash between legal and physical geography, the land isn’t connected to any of the irrigation districts, but it still has water rights, which are met by sticking a pump in the river itself.

Huge thanks to Ron Derma, general manager of the Bard Water District, who gave me a great tour of the area.