News Release Archive

Name Change Approved for Drop 2 Storage Reservoir

Media Contact: Colleen Dwyer , 702-293-8420, cdwyer@usbr.gov

For Release: September 15, 2010

Lorri Gray-Lee, Director of the Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Region, announced today that Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar last week approved an Imperial Irrigation District (IID) request to name a new storage reservoir located adjacent to the All-American Canal (AAC) in Southern California the "Warren H. Brock Reservoir."

IID will operate the reservoir, which is currently known as the Drop 2 Reservoir Storage Project. Construction of the project, located approximately 25 miles east of El Centro, California, just north of Interstate 8 and the AAC's Drop 2 power plant, began in November 2008, and will be completed later this month. It is estimated that the project will capture up to 70,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water that now flows past Imperial Dam each year because of the limited system storage capacity on the river below Parker Dam.

In support of the name change, IID noted that Mr. Brock was "a prominent, innovative Imperial Valley farmer who participated in numerous commercial ventures as well as experimental farming with different varieties of crops and arid and semi-arid farming methods." Much of this research was conducted at the Brock Ranch Experimental Research Station, a 621-acre site Mr. Brock and his son had leased from Reclamation since the 1950's. This site was chosen for the new reservoir because, of the 45 alternatives studied for potentially capturing and managing these non-storable flows, it provided the greatest opportunity.

IID also noted that "Mr. Brock advised President Nixon on agricultural policy, and was appointed in 1971 to a four-year term on the California Board of Agriculture by then-Governor Ronald Reagan. His efforts toward agricultural efficiency and excellence led to a number of advances in western agriculture."

The Southern Nevada Water Authority, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, who funded construction of the $172 million project, also supported the name change, in conjunction with IID, the Colorado River Board of California, and other public officials. The Bureau of Reclamation designed and constructed the project. For more information about this project, visit http://www.usbr.gov/lc/yuma/environmental_docs/environ_docs.html.

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