It is the Imperial Valley's only water source, and replaced the Alamo Canal, which was located mostly in Mexico.

With over 500 people having drowned in the canal since its completion, it has been called "the Most Dangerous Body of Water in the U.S."[2] The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued an advisory for any fish caught in the All-American Canal due to elevated levels of mercury, PCBs, and selenium.

[3] The All-American Canal was authorized along with Hoover Dam by the 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act and built in the 1930s by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and Six Companies, Inc.[4] Its design and construction was supervised by the Bureau's then chief designing engineer, John L. Savage, and was completed in 1942.

[citation needed] The system transports silt, selenium and salts from the Colorado River into the Salton Sea.

[1] In 2006, a Mexicali business and civic organization and two California environmental non-profits challenged the lining project in US federal court on the basis that it violated the water rights of Mexican water users and violated US environmental statutes due to the seepage's effects on the nearby Andrade Mesa Wetlands.

A rider in the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 required the completion of the lining project, however, and the lawsuit was rendered moot.

[12] Over 500 people have drowned in the All-American Canal since its completion due to deep, cold water, steep sides that make escape difficult, and swift currents that can reach 5.45 mph (8.77 km/h).

In 2011 the Imperial Irrigation District allocated $1.1 million in order to install lines with lifesaving buoys across the canal in 105 locations.

[14] Bilingual signs reading "Warning: Dangerous Water" were also installed in 1,414 locations along the canal.