SRP to drain parts of 131-mile canal system to maintain Arizona's water supply

A 7- to 8-mile stretch of canal in northwest Mesa will be out of commission as SRP begins a round of annual repairs over the next month.

Crews will remove fish, drain the canal and perform maintenance work from Nov. 20 to Dec. 20. The sections between Arizona Avenue and Gilbert Road belong to a 131-mile long canal system that delivers water to 2.5 million Valley residents.

The fish being removed are weed-eating, white amur fish. They're used in the system to help manage overgrowth in aquatic vegetation. SRP released 1,800 of them into the canal system in 1989 in hopes of keeping the canals clear and clean, the organization said.

Patty Garcia-Likens with SRP said they’ll work with cities to ensure that residents continue to have water during the maintenance period.

“The delivery of water is never interrupted. We just have different ways of delivering to our various customers, and our customers are the cities," Garcia-Likens said. "So the cities take that water, they treat the water and they deliver it to the residents.” 

Portions of land along the canal will be closed to traffic including bicycles and pedestrians, and signs will be posted to note increased construction traffic.