| Summary: | Presented at Contemporary challenges for irrigation and drainage: proceedings from the USCID 14th technical conference on irrigation, drainage and flood control held on June 3-6, 1998 in Phoenix, Arizona. The McClusky Canal is a 74-miIe (119 kilometers) long channel. It was constructed from 1969 to 1976 for transporting water from the Missouri River Basin to the Red River Basin of the north, which is in the Hudson Bay Drainage Basin. The canal is one of the main features of the Garrison Diversion Unit (GDU), which was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944, or more commonly called the Pick-Sloan Act. The McClusky Canal was designed with a capacity of about 2,000 cubic feet per second (56.6 cubic meters per second) to provide water for the Garrison Diversion Project to irrigate 250,000 acres (100,000 hectares) and other purposes in the state of North Dakota in north central United States. The primary water supply for North Dakota is the Missouri River, therefore, water must be transported into the Red River basin to fully develop the water resource in that area. To transport water by gravity from the regulating reservoir (Lake Audubon) across the continental divide, it was necessary for the McClusky Canal to follow a meandering course and, at times, through over 100 foot (32.7 meters) deep cuts. Some design and construction deficiencies were also not rectified. and the Garrison Diversion project has never been completed nor operated to near its capacity or maintained properly, except during the past five years. Recent efforts to introduce legislation for project completion have renewed the need for rehabilitation and proper maintenance of the canal. The conditions mentioned above have contributed significantly to a general deterioration of the canal and have necessitated the need for major improvements and an upgraded O&M program. Some of the major problems which are being worked on are summarized briefly below: • Several miles have cuts as deep as 50 feet (16.4 meters) and one 2½ mile (4 kilometers) ...
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