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The Arizona Canal is a major canal in central Maricopa County that led to the founding of several communities. The canal is approximately 50 miles (80 km) long and  is the northernmost canal in the Salt River Project’s  131-mile  water distribution system.  It begins at Granite Reef Dam to northeast of Mesa and flows west across the Pima Indian Community to downtown Scottsdale;snakes through Phoenix’s Arcadia and Sunnyslope neighborhoods,  then to Glendale, and Peoria  before ending at New River near Arrowhead Town center. Whew!  That’s a lot of ground to cover!

The canal system provides water to neighborhood homes to water their yards once a month through irrigation systems, several water treatment plants and to  local  farm lands.In order for irrigation communities to receive water flow on their scheduled times with out interruption, an annual maintenance ritual takes place by SRP employee’s,  during the winter months, to keep the systems in good working order.

Besides the annual maintenance, done by SRP employees, a regular, everyday canal maintenance is done by a more eco-friendly friend, the White Amure fish, whose natural job is to control aquatic weed over-growth in the canals that may cause blockages. These fish are sustained with continual water flow for them during the winter maintenance ritual that closes the water flow to certain sections of the canal at a time.

 This name of this lovely fish arrises from its native area of living in the Amur River on the Siberia-China border.

The White Amure fish, also known as The Grass Carp, is farmed in China for food but was introduced in Europe and the U.S.  for environmental friendly aquatic weed control since the fish has a pretty wide range  in temperature tolerance. The Arizona Game and Fish Department provides special stock permits for these canal swimming White Amure because, these fish, eating in our canals are sterile.

The White Amur helps in controlling excessive aquatic vegetation, as shown in the picture above.  These fish are a very effective with biological control by consuming more than twice their body weight each day during their early growing years. Our useful friend also eliminates the need for humans to use chemical herbicides which can damage any underwater ecosystem.

For information on canal maintenance and when it begins in your area, call SRP 602-236-3333.

More related sites about the White Amure fish:

http://www.srpnet.com/environment/amur.aspx.    

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/1980-05-01/Weed-Eating-Fish.aspx

“All creatures have a wonderful purpose on this planet and the quicker we understand that, The more we will all live in harmony as a whole.” - Lisa Racz

Sincerely,

Your local environment writer

Lisa Racz - Queen of Green

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