This page features photos of agriculture in the Dome Valley near Yuma, Arizona.
Located in southwestern Arizona’s Yuma County, the Dome Valley is known for its winter lettuce and kale crops. Lying just east of the confluence of the Colorado River and Gila River, the valley is extremely dry but it has been made fertile by Colorado River water delivered via the Gila Canal.
The canal is part of the Gila Project, which is an interconnected system of water diversions created to disperse Colorado River water. In modern times, the once perennial Gila has been reduced to an ephemeral and mostly dry riverbed in stretches.
In 2019, the advocacy group American Rivers deemed the Gila River as America’s most endangered river. Like much of the American Southwest, Yuma and nearby counties are struggling with severe, continued drought. As a result, the nearby Gila River has been contributing little to the Dome Valley’s irrigation.
Learn more:
| Date | February 2021 |
| Location | Dome Valley, Arizona (map) |
| Credit | Ted Wood/The Water Desk |
| Rights | Free to reuse under Creative Commons license. |
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