Day of a ditch rider

Reporter learns about the role of a ditch rider in region’s irrigation system

Ditch riders.

They are a common sight in the irrigated lands of Eastern Washington. But what exactly do they do?

On June 14, 2019, I had the rare opportunity to get answers to that question by following a ditch rider for part of his day.

Nate Volkov is a relief rider for the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District. On the day I joined him, he was doing the topmost ditch north of Quincy.

He had previously been the permanent rider for this ditch before becoming relief rider. Each ditch rider is assigned their own ditch. Nate is one of the exceptions. If a ditch rider is gone, it is the relief rider’s job to take their place and to fulfill their orders.

Ditch riders start their day at 7:30 a.m.

Nate’s first task was to check the weed rack for the water coming out of the West Canal and going into the canal that leads to the pumping plant. This weed rack catches all the large weeds that enter the canal.

There are also weed racks scattered along the ditch. Each time a weed rack is encountered, it is the ditch rider’s job to make sure that water is flowing smoothly and unhindered by collected weeds.

In order to receive water for their fields, farmers must order it. They can leave a phone message or text their ditch rider the amount of water they want the day before they want the water. These orders are transferred to cards that the ditch rider carries.

The water needed for the next day is counted, and the watermaster then radios it in to the Bureau of Reclamation. Water is turned down the West Canal overnight so it is available for use the next morning. Water from the West Canal serves Quincy, George, Royal City, Soap Lake and Ephrata.

As ditch riders drive along their ditch, they stop and check the amount of water that each farmer is receiving. This ensures that they are getting the amount they ordered. If they aren’t, it is the ditch rider’s job to correct it.

They also stop to give farmers the water they ordered the day before. Ditch riders do this by opening the main gate in the ditch to allow more water to the weir. Once open, they adjust the gates going into the field or orchard. It can take several minutes to ensure the water levels are set correctly at a weir. Measuring water can be a bit tricky, in my opinion. It took Nate several attempts to explain it to me.

There were several types of weirs on the ditch we were on. Some I had seen before. There were two main types that I noticed.

The first was a series of two gates that could be raised and lowered by spinning the wheels on the top of the gates. The ditch rider spins the gate open and measures the amount of rod coming out of the top of the gate with a special measuring tape that has both inches and a foot divided into tenths. The irrigation district measures everything in tenths of a foot. They provide their employees with cheat sheets that tell them how many tenths they need to measure to get the correct amount of water.

On the side of the gate, there is a metal ruler, called a staff measure, that is a foot long, also divided into tenths. Once the gate closest to the canal is open, the ditch rider opens the second gate. There is a staff measure on the second gate that is two-tenths higher than the other staff measure. The ditch rider opens the second gate until the numbers on both staff measures match.

The other kind of weir has one gate. In place of the second gate there was a box or pond with a dam on one end. This dam was made of metal. To measure the water, ditch riders place a pole with a staff measure on it. If the dam is working correctly, there will be a pocket of air under the water flowing over the dam. Backflow occurs when that bubble is gone. The amount of water going over the dam cannot be measured when the bubble is missing.

Another job of a ditch rider is to respond to emergencies, such as a weir that is not operating properly or a breach in a ditch wall.

The day I rode with Nate, he got a call from an orchardist who had an overflowing weir.

Managing water is tricky. If a pump is turned off or a gate gets plugged, it can back-flood the ditch.

“We don’t have room for the extra water,” Nate said. “The bigger ditches can handle it a bit better. Gravity ditches can’t handle it.”

Ditch riders have to plan and think ahead in regard to the exact amount of water they need each day. The weather affects the amount of water that farmers need. They also have to take evaporation and the possibility of ditch seepage into account. They have to know how to manage the water going into a ditch or pipeline.

They also cover a lot of ground. The ditch I was on is approximately 26 miles in length. Nate estimated that, when he was the regular rider on that ditch, he drove 60 to 80 miles a day.

“It’s a lot of ground to cover,” he said. “If you check things, it could be more miles than that.”

Ditch riders also perform maintenance on their ditches, including spraying weeds in the summer and controlling algae. If a ditch is mowed, that job is usually performed by temporary summer employees.

They also perform maintenance during the winter.

“Winter is a very busy season,” Nate said. “If there are any gate repairs, we do that.”

If a ditch is seeping badly, they line it with a heavy-duty tarp covered with felt on both sides. Before placing the tarp, the ditch is dug down a foot. Once the tarp is placed, six inches of dirt, followed by six inches of rock is placed on top.

One of a ditch rider’s most important jobs is to deliver water. Nate told me over and over that it is a ditch rider’s number one job.

“Get the farmer his water at least by the end of the day if there is an issue,” he said. “They’re guaranteed water.”

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@columbiabasinherald.com.