William Durbrow was an irrigation district leader from 1919 until his retirement in 1947. He was born in 1876 in San Francisco and attended the University of California where he received a degree in engineering. Durbrow's first job was as a mining engineer but he switched to the water field and became the engineer and manager of Oro Water, Light and Power Company. He then moved on to ranching and became the food administrator for Glenn County during WWI. After the war, Durbrow returned to water and was on the organizing committee and later the president of the Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District as well as the manager of the Nevada Irrigation District. From 1923 to 1933 he was the president of the Irrigation Districts Association and continued working on irrigation issues up to his retirement in 1947. In this interview, Durbrow discusses his family background, childhood in San Francisco, education, ranching, mining engineering, food administration, national leaders and California agriculture during the Depression, organization and development of Glenn-Coulsa and Nevada irrigation districts, the irrigation district's financial problems, land acquisition, assessments and distribution and achievements of the Irrigation Districts Association. This interview is part of a group of interviews documenting regional cultural history.