Zanja

A zanja ([ˈsaŋxa], "water ditch" or "trench") is an archaic irrigation system used in the southwestern United States and that still occurs in various place names as a relic of that time.

Variant spellings that appear in North American English placenames and documents include zanjón, zanjon, san jon, and sanjon.

Water was diverted from the riverbed by a brush weir (toma) into a main channel, called the mother ditch (zanja madre).

[5] The person in charge of maintaining the zanja was called the zanjero; this job title is still in use in at least one water district in Arizona.

His job is to deliver prescribed amounts of Colorado River water to farmers served by the Imperial Irrigation District in southeastern California.

"Zanjas and waterwheels provided water and power" from Los Angeles as it appeared in 1871 , a story map published 1929 (Library of Congress)
Figueroa Street zanja, 1906 (California Historical Society)