A
Headgate Operation and Repair
The headgate is where a water right becomes water in the field, and it is the part of a ditch
most likely to fail quietly. Cast iron seizes, stems bend under ice, and a gate that no longer seats
will leak your whole turn away through the winter. RUWBI INC riders free seized gates, replace rising
stems and hand wheels, true the gate frame and confirm full travel so the gate holds the setting we
give it. On older ditches we rebuild around the original frame wherever the casting is still sound,
which keeps a shareholder from paying for a full replacement. Before the season opens we test every
gate on the lateral and record its condition in the flow ledger, so a repair in June is planned in
April instead of discovered at midnight. If your gate will not hold or will not close, this is the
first service to call.
C
Flume and Measuring Board Setup
A flume is only useful if it measures. We build and rebuild wooden flumes of planed boards, level
the boards through the throat, and mount the measuring board and gauge plate that convert a rushing
channel into a number every shareholder can agree on. A warped board or a flume set out of level will
understate or overstate a turn and turn a small disagreement into a season of complaints. Our crew
trues the boards, checks the approach and the throat, sets the board marks against the gauge plate, and
confirms the reading against a measured draw. Where an older flume has been damaged by livestock or
flood debris, we rebuild it to the original dimensions so past records still apply. The result is a
ditch where the water delivered on a turn can be read at a glance, and where the roster can be
enforced fairly from the first day of the season.
F
Seasonal Turn Scheduling
The turn schedule is the calendar of a shared ditch, and we build it as a written roster rather
than a set of private arrangements. RUWBI INC sits with the shareholders, records the acreage and
crop on each parcel, the flow each headgate can take, and the number of hours the ditch can support
in a full rotation. From that we assemble the season: who takes water, on which day, for how many
hours, and through which gate. The roster board in our shed matches the schedule we hand to every
shareholder, so the order is public and held. When a turn must move because of weather, a repair or a
dry stretch, we adjust the roster and notify each affected party before the change takes effect. A
schedule written down and kept current is the difference between a ditch that runs all summer and one
that spends the summer arguing about who is next.
J
Siphon Pipe Programs
Where a lateral sits above the field it serves, water has to cross a bank to get where it is
needed. Our siphon pipe programs run aluminum pipes in staggered ranks over the levee so water lifts
and drops into the lower ground without a pump and without cutting the bank. We size the pipe count
and diameter to the flow the turn delivers, set the pipes in a stable ladder that will not shift under
pressure, and show the crew how to prime each pipe and pull it cleanly for repeated sets across the
season. Siphon programs are especially useful for the small acreage owner with a couple of low fields
that would otherwise need a ditch of their own. We set the first rank with you, watch it run, and leave
a written set of steps so the same turn can be repeated by anyone on the property.
M
Ditch Clearing Crews
Before any turn order means anything, the channel must physically carry water from the diversion
to the last gate on the lateral. Our clearing crews cut bankside growth, pull silt and debris from
flume inlets, clear the check points and open the flow path so each shareholder receives the water that
was measured for them. We work the ditch on a schedule that fits the season, clearing before the first
turn and returning through the summer to keep culverts and crossings open. A ditch that is choked with
growth and sediment loses water to the banks, slows the whole rotation and leaves the far end of the
line short. Clearing is unglamorous work, but it is the reason a measured turn arrives at the last
field in the same condition it left the diversion.
R
Water Right Filings Help
Water in the West is paper as much as it is flow. When a ditch is contested, or when a property
changes hands, the party who can show a clean record is the party who keeps the water. RUWBI INC helps
acreage owners assemble the filings, maps, ditch records and measurement history that support a water
right. We organize the documents, walk the owner through the parts that matter, and keep a complete
filing set in the shed so a shareholder can produce the record without a scramble. We are not attorneys
and we do not give legal advice, but we do know what a complete packet looks like and how the ditch
records tie to a parcel. Owners who keep their filings current avoid the worst outcome on a shared
ditch, which is losing a turn they have used for decades because the paperwork was never finished.