(Photo by Tiara Vian - KJZZ)

Workers putting sections of pipe in road.

(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

Construction worker in new pipe being laid near Glendale.

A ditch transporting canal water in the West Valley is being replaced this month by underground pipe to spur development.

The 100-year-old ditch was built to irrigate farms near 99th and Glendale avenues.  

Now, city workers are installing pipe to make way for wider streets, providing homes and businesses with water instead of agriculture.

Construction supervisor Dale Persons said he’s seeing these kinds of projects pick up as Glendale’s development continues and pushes out farmland.

“It gets harder to farm as urbanization gets around you with some of the things they do," Persons said. "Most of them end up heading west, and they’ll farm out there for some more years.”

Persons said the demand for these projects could mean the area’s coming back from the housing crisis.

“We had that dry spell in the economy when they weren’t building houses and stuff. Before that it was going crazy for a lot of years," he said. "It’s probably been six or seven years since I saw this kind of activity again.”

The pipe will run 2,800 feet and will be finished early February.