Ag Water Conservation Policy

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Open Access
Verifying conservation estimates for on-farm agricultural water conservation programs
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Ramirez, Ana, author; Pandey, Stacy, author; Eaton, David, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
This paper presents an update on the statistical analysis of water use practices on precision leveled rice fields irrigated by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) Lakeside Irrigation Division. Results from the 2011 analysis confirms again that there is a statistically significant difference in water use between leveled and non-leveled fields (0.33 acre feet of water savings per acre farmed for the first rice crop only). The updated study incorporated and/or refined several additional variables that affect field water use such as other on-farm conservation measures and management practices of individual producers, added a year of data, and will include a separate analysis of the effect of system-wide savings on river diversions. The analysis used a statistical model that incorporated water use and farm practice data over a 4-year period. This study is a conservation verification component of LCRA's HB 1437 Agriculture Water Conservation Program. LCRA partnered with the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas to develop the statistical model and analysis presented in this paper. The House Bill 1437 (HB 1437) Agriculture Water Conservation Program is an innovative way to meet rising municipal demands in Williamson County (located in the Colorado River Basin of Texas), conserve river water used for irrigation, and maintain agriculture productivity. A 2005 implementation study identified land leveling as the first strategy that should be pursued using the funds from this program. The land leveling grant program began in 2006 and from 2006-2010 has funded up to a 30% cost share to precision level 22,086 acres of farm land irrigated with surface water from LCRA. To date an estimated 7,100 acre-feet of water has been conserved as a result of these precision land leveling grants. This study is essential to confirm the accuracy of the water savings estimates, which are being used to calculate the water available for transfer to meet municipal demands. The updated HB1437 short-term plan established a goal of conserving 10,000 acre feet per year by 2014.
Open Access
Searching for predictive climate signals for river flows in the Lower Colorado River Basin of Texas
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Anderson, Ronald, author; Rose, Bob, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Highland Lakes are operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) in Texas to provide water supply to municipal, industrial, agricultural users and environmental flows for the river and Matagorda Bay. The Highland Lakes also provide for hydroelectric generation and recreation. The catchment area is in the Texas Hill Country, a region classified as the Edwards Plateau. Subject to extended droughts interrupted by intense rainfall, the region has the nickname of Flash Flood Alley. Precipitation in the region is understood to be influenced by oceanic conditions in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico. While the behavior of these global climate patterns is climatologically understood, finding strong skill in prediction of streamflows has been challenging. Identifying concurrent teleconnections, and to a lesser extend lagging indicators, is a critical first step for finding potential for predictors. Research efforts have often focused on predicting rainfall or climatic indexes. However, surface water managers need to relate predictions to streamflows. Climate indices can also be useful if they are hindcasted, enabling for relationships to the streamflow record to be established. Persistence is one of the strongest predictive indicators in the region, primarily through the winter season. Persistence is useful in short term predictions because it directly relates to streamflows and indirectly is influenced by teleconnection patterns. Therefore explicitly considering teleconnection patterns adds less incremental short term skill but potential benefit for longer term prediction. Use of persistence and ENSO forecasts are currently being used in water supply forecasts at the LCRA.
Open Access
Water reuse in droughts and deserts
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Gerak, Ed, author; Blankenship, Joe, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Water reuse, particularly reuse of treated wastewater, has been in discussion for a number of decades as municipalities and farmers have viewed a valuable resource flowing back into the river after going through two or three levels of treatment. Resistance in reuse comes from a cultural idea of not reusing treated wastewater for drinking or growing edible crops, probably from the fear that it will transmit diseases from the water or contaminate foods grown with the water. There is also an objection to having animals grown for food drink the treated wastewater, fearing that they may catch diseases, or transmit diseases, from the water. This paper will present the experience of the Buckeye Water Conservation and Drainage District ("BWCDD" or the "District") in using treated wastewater from the largest wastewater treatment plant ("WWTP") in Phoenix, AZ. Approximately 65% of the water supply for the District comes from the WWTP. Agricultural crops using the water are restricted to fiber and animal feed. The area supports a large health dairy industry with nearly 20 operations and is one of the premier areas for growing fine Pima cotton. We will not argue for using WWTP water for food crops but rather address how water reuse from this source may substitute for scarce supplies of stored, ground or pumped water. BWCDD also uses its water resource for generation of electricity at a drop on one of its weirs, providing further reuse of its canals and water.
Open Access
Advancing agricultural water conservation in Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Waskom, Reagan, author; Bauder, Troy, author; Sternlieb, Faith, author; Kallenberger, Julie, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Population growth and climate variability are increasing pressures on limited water resources, and extensive collaboration is needed to develop long-term working solutions to this complex issue. Agriculture consumes an estimated 90 percent of available water resources in the western U.S., and future water needs for an expanding urban population will likely come from agriculture. Therefore, it is increasingly urgent for farmers, water managers, extension agents, and policy-makers to understand agricultural water conservation methodology, technology, and policy to make informed management decisions. Reliable information on the subject is often not readily available to water users, especially outside of the academic and government communities. The USDA-NIFA Northern Plains and Mountains Regional Water Team (NPM) has addressed the need for increased knowledge, understanding and adoption of agricultural water conservation through an innovative web-based project. The Agricultural Water Conservation Clearinghouse (AWCC) seeks to join communities of practice to collaboratively address the complex issues of agricultural water use. The AWCC is designed as a comprehensive resource for the latest news, research, literature and tools related to agricultural water conservation. The focal point of the AWCC is a library that contains references to published materials populated by Extension specialists, research scientists, and educators, providing a refined bibliographic review of agriculture water conservation grey literature. The Library encompass over 3,600 entries of refereed journal articles, books, reports, theses and dissertations, and conference proceedings. The AWCC has been searched by over 21,000 users since it was unveiled in 2008 and participation continues to grow.
Open Access
Climate and ET: do plant water requirements increase during a drought?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Swanson, Charles, author; Smith, David, author; Fipps, Guy, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Municipalities, engineering consultants and State agencies use reference evapotranspiration (ETo) data (directly and indirectly) for long-term water planning, for designing hydraulic structures, and for establishing regulatory guidance and conservation programs intended to reduce water waste. The use of ETo data for agricultural and landscape irrigation scheduling is becoming more common in Texas as ETo-based controllers and automation technologies become more affordable. Until recently, most ETo data has been available as monthly values averaged over many years. Today, automated weather stations and irrigation controllers equipped with specialized instrumentation allow for real-time ETo measurements. With the expected rise in global warming and increased frequency of extreme climate variability in the coming decades, conservation and efficient use of water resources is essential and must make use of the most accurate and representative data available.
Open Access
Supervisory control and data acquisition meets public policy - a Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Kennedy, Pat, author; Bettner, Thaddeus, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Looking into the future, water agency managers, consultants, board members and other decision makers will need to assess and consider using today's available technology to make more informed decisions to balance competing needs for water, to demonstrate improved water management, and to implement and manage water conservation programs. The initial investment and "growing pains" of using technology to install or update a system can streamline operations and serve multiple functions to improve efficiency and data acquisition. With this foundation, Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID) elected to proceed with installing and utilizing a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to improve operations and assist in addressing the myriad challenges associated with operating a large irrigation district in California. Internal to GCID, the SCADA system is part of a long-term strategic plan to enable improvements to control the distribution and delivery of irrigation water through GCID's extensive canal network. One of the most important components of GCID's SCADA system is the communication system, which is a high-speed endlessly expandable communication network capable of adding an unlimited amount of SCADA sites. External to GCID, California's policy makers continue to enact new legislation requiring water agencies to prove that they are accurately measuring water, to demonstrate that water is being efficiently managed and beneficially used, and to establish linkages between surface water and groundwater. GCID is in the process of expanding its SCADA system to meet these new public objectives.
Open Access
Information systems in water sector of Central Asia: challenges and perspectives
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Abdullaev, Iskandar, author; Rakhmatullaev, Shavkat, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A water resource planning for the river basins is the most crucial element of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach. Development and implementation of the river basin plans enables water management organizations to cope with increasing uncertainties due to climate change, sectoral competition and population growth. Contemporary water management decisions use many sources of information and forms of data. However, the data and information on water sector is often dispersed, heterogeneous, incomplete, and not comparable. New social and political realms require a participatory involvement of the different stakeholders for decision making process in water sector. Thus open source, easy to access information and data management systems are successful. The aim of this paper is to present practical results on improving water management in Central Asia through application of information and communication technologies at the operational level across diverse institutional settings, i.e., transboundary, watershed and national levels of the region. The case study presented is conducted within framework of Transboundary Water Management in Central Asia programme. The programme is the part of the 'Berlin Process', an initiative by the German Federal Government to support the countries of Central Asia in water management and to make water a subject of intensified transboundary cooperation.
Open Access
Development of irrigation scheduling at the whole farm level
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Ismanov, Mukammadzakhrab, author; Espinoza, Leo, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The average cotton farmer in the Mid-South works with large numbers of fields. Different crops, soil types, and planting times complicate irrigation scheduling at the whole farm level. This is probably the main reason why many farmers still do not use the irrigation scheduling tools. Results of irrigation scheduling in different counties in Arkansas during the last five years show that a developed potential evapotranspiration (PET)-based irrigation scheduler is an effective at the whole farm level. Main tools of this method are evapotranspiration (ET) and rain gauges. Comparison different ET tools shows that the atmometer is better suited to farm irrigation scheduling purposes in terms of price, accuracy of data, easy installation, and monitoring. PET data of different atmometers installed in the same place may differ by 1.69 % from the average PET during a three-month period. Evaluating a water deficit level of the particular field is very important. Soil type, tillage system and field configuration may affect the water deficit level of the field. The field water deficit method helps to evaluate the soil moisture level between irrigation or rainfall intervals and to determine the next irrigation time.
Open Access
Socio-technical aspects of water management: emerging trends in Central Asia
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Abdullaev, Iskandar, author; Mollinga, Peter, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Water sector during the soviet period has been protected from the financial and political uncertainties due to overwhelming state presence in the sector. The firm trademark of Soviet water management was technology-technical oriented, hierarchical institutions in the sector which are centrally controlled by communist party and water sector ministries. Ideological and political protectionist policies of the soviet government have been crucial on shaping water sector policies. The water management decisions at the different levels were not contested by any of involved parties (different republics, sectors, territories) due to integrated economic structure and strong presence of the state in everyday politics, including in water management. However, collapse of the Soviet Union has brought many uncertainties, political and economical changes, and decline in social infrastructure into former republics. The water sector became playground for multiple actors at the different levels and arenas, making water management a socio-political process. This paper is an attempt to describe how three different dimensions of water management in Central Asia are interacting and shaping each other: local, national and inter-state.
Open Access
Real-time optimization for smart automation of surface irrigation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Smith, Rod, author; Gillies, Malcolm, author; Koech, Richard, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A system for the real-time optimization of furrow irrigation is described. The system estimates the soil infiltration characteristics in real-time and utilizes the data to control the same irrigation event to give optimum performance for the current soil conditions. The main features of the system are: the use of a model infiltration curve and a scaling process to describe the current soil infiltration characteristic; measurement of the inflow rate to the furrows; measurement of the water advance at a point approximately midway down the furrow; and a microcomputer running a hydraulic simulation program based on the full hydrodynamic model to predict the optimum time to cut-off. The system was trialed on a furrow-irrigated commercial cotton property utilizing pipes through the bank (PTBs) to supply groups of furrows. The initial observations from these trials are presented in this paper and demonstrate that improvements in water use efficiency are potentially achievable through the use of the system. Extensions to the system to improve its performance and to make it applicable to bay irrigation are described.
Open Access
Water resources planning - are you ready?
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Knell, Steve, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) is a 72,345 acre irrigation district located in the northeast foothills and valley floor of the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. In late 2004 OID embarked on the development of a Water Resources Plan (WRP) with a subsequent adoption of the Plan in June 2007. The planning document and subsequent environmental review took nearly two and half years to complete. Oddly enough, the time spent developing the WRP was just about equal to time spent positioning OID to begin the planning process, hence the point of this paper. Water resource planning is not something one should embark upon lightly. It is an expensive process to do correctly; it is demanding in its time and energy commitment from the district; it is politically risky or at best politically challenging, depending on your local situation, if the groundwork is not laid properly. There are a number of elements a General Manager and/or an irrigation district Board of Directors should consider, or be aware of, prior to investing substantially in such a planning effort. Without a good understanding of the critical path elements to get to a successful implementation of the WRP a district could spend a sizable amount of money and staff time on a planning effort that ends up becoming largely un-implementable. This paper will discuss experiences learned at OID regarding its efforts in implementing a successful Water Resources Plan.
Open Access
Performance assessment of Krishna Western Delta using remote sensing - a case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Prasad, P. R. K., author; Jacobs, C., author; Rao, G. Subba, author; Srinivas, D., author; Babu, A. V. Suresh, author; Boonstra, J., author; Satyanarayana, T. V., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Krishna delta irrigation system, one of the earliest major irrigation projects in southern India was designed by Sir Arthur Cotton during in the middle of 19th century on river Krishna near Vijayawada. The project irrigates an ayacut of 5.14 lakh hectares covering West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh. Using multi-date satellite data of Krishna Western Delta (KWD), flow information, crop cutting experiment (CCE) plot data of the State Department of Agriculture (SDA) and AP Water Management (APWAM) Project obtained during kharif 2005-06, performance indicators were computed and performance of irrigation system was assessed. Paddy was the major crop gown in KWD. Hence paddy yield model was developed using ground obtained CCE plot yield data and satellite derived normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI). Very good correlation (r = 0.7) was obtained between these parameters. Hence, it was extrapolated to the entire KWD belt. The average yield of KWD derived based on NDVI observations was closely matched with the yield data of APWAM and SDA. Highest efficiency (85%) was obtained in high-level canal command. The lower efficiency obtained in Kommamur was due to poor condition of the canal, high conveyance losses and release of excess rain water in to the sea through the canal. The productivity of water was varying from 0.7 to 1.0 kg m-3 across KWD except in Kommamur which had only 0.5 kg m-3. The information on nature, extent and distribution of salt affected soils and waterlogged areas in KWD was generated based on visual interpretation of FCC imageries obtained from space-borne remote sensing satellites. It was computed that about 18,102 and 4,675 hectares of area was salt affected and waterlogged, respectively.
Open Access
A comparison of laboratory and field calibration of the ECH2O EC-20 soil moisture probe for soils in the Middle Rio Grande Valley
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Kinzli, Kristoph-Dietrich, author; Manana, Nkosinathi, author; Oad, Ramchand, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Throughout the American West irrigated agriculture has been targeted to increase water use efficiency. Soil moisture sensors offer a method to achieve efficiency improvements but have found limited use due primarily to high cost and lack of soil specific calibration equations. In this paper we examine the ECH2O EC-20 soil moisture sensor, a low cost capacitance sensor and develop a unique laboratory calibration method. Field and laboratory calibration equations were developed for 6 soil types in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. The average absolute error in volumetric water content for field calibration was 0.43 m3/m3, and 0.012 m3/m3 for the laboratory calibration. The factory calibration equation for the EC-20 was also evaluated and found to yield an average absolute error of 0.049 m³/m³. We found that the EC-20 is a reliable, cost effective, and accurate sensor, and recommend that the laboratory calibration method presented here be used to obtain maximum accuracy. We also recommend that the field calibration of the EC-20 soil moisture sensor be foregone, as this type of calibration exhibits large error rates. Additionally, it was found that the field calibration method was time consuming, covered a small range of moisture content values and was destructive to the area around installed sensors, which could lead to measurement errors.
Open Access
South Platte water conservation project a municipal-agricultural partnership
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Brouwer, Carl, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Municipal water demand for the Front Range of Colorado is expected to increase substantially over the coming years. As these demands continue to grow, the pressure to dry up agricultural water supplies in the South Platte River basin continues to be more acute. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (Northern Water) along with fifteen municipal water providers is presently in the permitting process for the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP). This project will consist of two distinct but integrated pieces – the new 170,000 acre-ft Glade Reservoir located northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado, and the South Platte Water Conservation Project (SPWCP). The SPWCP involves a pump station on the South Platte River which pumps water during the non-irrigation season to the proposed 45,600 acre-ft Galeton Reservoir located northeast of Greeley Colorado. The SPWCP will then deliver water during the summer to two large irrigation companies – the Larimer and Weld Irrigation Company and the New Cache Ditch Company. A like quantity of water that those companies would have diverted under their senior water rights will be exchanged upstream to Glade Reservoir for municipal use. This paper will discuss the formulation of the SPWCP project as well as the partnership that has been formulated with the ditch companies. In addition to an overview of issues associated with NISP, specific issues associated with the exchange with the ditch companies will be presented. In particular, the benefits of the municipal-agricultural partnership will be explained.
Open Access
Water resources planning to water transfers to modernization of an irrigation district: Oakdale Irrigation District case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Knell, Steven R., author; Eldridge, Gregory W., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) was formed in 1909 and provides pre-1914 water rights to over 55,000 acres of irrigated farmland located within the northern San Joaquin Valley of California. The district's situation is similar to many irrigation districts in the Central Valley; it has an aged and often failing infrastructure which has had little investment over the years; it has an intermixed customer base of both urbanizing ranchette lands, expanding dairies and a rapid conversion to high value permanent crops; it has a demand for more flexible water deliveries and services from its customers; and has limited financial resources to meet those demands. With that backdrop, initiated in November 2004 and completed in June 2007, OID developed a Water Resources Plan (WRP) as a strategic roadmap for addressing those issues. Today the district is moving forward with the implementation of a $170 million capital improvement program to meet the multifaceted needs of the district. Those needs as outlined in the WRP include the protection of the District's water rights; an increase in agricultural water supply reliability during droughts; protection for the local areas surface and groundwater supplies; along with a roadmap to modernize and rebuild a century old system to meet the needs of its changing customer base. Regional water transfers are being used as the basic funding mechanism to make it all happen. The paper will provide a background of the drivers that got the OID to begin the planning process; it will discuss how the planning process evolved; what the findings and recommendations were in the final Water Resources Plan (WRP); and finally, how those recommendations are being moved forward to implementation.
Open Access
Gate automation and centralized control in a south central Texas irrigation district
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Pandey, Stacy, author; McLeod, John, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
This paper presents an overview of a project to retrofit and automate 11 check gate structures within a selected section of the eastern canal system in LCRA's Gulf Coast Irrigation Division. LCRA owns and operates three irrigation systems in the lower Colorado River Basin. This project is funded by a combination of funds from the House Bill 1437 Agricultural Water Conservation Program, and a USBR grant. Each check gate structure will consist of two aluminum slide gates with actuators and instrumentation for automatic control, powered by solar panels. Other project features include 3 spill monitoring sites, a radio based data communication system (DCS), and a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Gate manufacturing, and telecom design and installation are being accomplished in-house, with gate design by a contracted engineering firm. The House Bill 1437 (HB 1437) Agriculture Water Conservation Program was developed to meet rising municipal demands in Williamson County (located in the Colorado River Basin of Texas), conserve river water used for irrigation, and maintain agriculture productivity. The HB1437 short-term plan established a goal of conserving 10,000 acre feet per year by 2014. This project to automate existing canal check structures is part of this plan. The USBR grant enabled LCRA to include the centralized SCADA component of the project. The water savings from this project is estimated to be 2,600 acre-feet per year or a 3.5% reduction in the eastern section of Gulf Coast's average annual water diversion (73,000 acre-feet per year). Water management will be improved on the entire eastern section of the system as a result of automating the gates at the head of the system.
Open Access
Implementing Total Channel Control® technology at Oakdale Irrigation District - case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Knell, Steve, author; Davids, John, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) is a 72,345 acre irrigation district located in both the northeast foothills and valley floor of the San Joaquin Valley of Central California. OID has a 12 year history of marketing conserved water to willing buyers and using that revenue to finance capital improvements. Those revenues are used in a self-perpetuating program to rehabilitate, modernize and furthermore water conservation in order to generate and market more water. Those efforts have served OID well, generating some $41.2 million in water transfer revenues since 1998. As its next tier of conservation projects, OID and Rubicon Systems America Inc. (Rubicon) embarked on a demonstration project to bring Total Channel Control® (TCC) Technology to the OID delivery system. The OID system is a 100 year old gravity flow system delivering about 250,000 acre feet per year to a mix of irrigated pasture, almonds, walnuts, rice and both small ranchette and large agricultural field sizes. All these variables lead to difficulty in the efficient management of irrigation water. To address these issues with modern technology, a $3 million project was agreed upon by Rubicon and OID. The coordinated in-house constructed and managed project involved the replacement of 28 check structures and the design and installation of 31 gates on the 6.5 mile Claribel Lateral and the 8.5 mile Cometa Lateral. The works of improvement were completed during the winter of 2010/2011. This paper will detail some of the institutional challenges, technological hurdles and construction experiences learned during the implementation of this project.
Open Access
Improved water resource management using an acoustic pulsed Doppler sensor in a shallow open channel
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Cook, Mike, author; Huhta, Craig, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Over the years, acoustic Doppler profilers (ADP) have become a standard for flow measurement in large open channels. In most cases, pulsed Doppler systems measure the water-velocity profile either from the side of the channel or from a bottom-mounted system. Having a velocity profile is critical in providing accurate flow measurements and provides important information about the structure of the velocities in the flow. These systems are often optimized for different sizes of open channels by using different acoustic frequencies, acoustic beam configurations as well as other factors, however, ADPs have been traditionally too expensive for flow monitoring in small channels. Traditional alternatives to ADP for measurements in small channels have used water level as a surrogate or continuous wave acoustic instruments. These two technologies, although inexpensive, do present problems to end users in the form of accuracy, which can be a major problem when making decisions or billing based on the collected data. Building on the success of ADPs in open channels and considering the increasing demand to quantify flows in very small channels due to the increasing scarcity of water, SonTek developed a shallow water flow meter - the SonTek IQ - for open channels ranging from 0.08 m to 5 meters in depth. The new flow meter uses multiple beams to measure water velocity and applies a vertical beam and pressure sensor to measure water level - these two types of data are used to calculate flow. In addition to the new design, the IQ provides improved performance for theoretical flow calculations, which are important in smaller channels, such as ditches and turnouts where an index calibration may not be practical when considering cost. This paper describes the sensor configuration, preliminary specifications and theoretical flow models used to calculate open channel discharge. Preliminary testing in flow laboratories demonstrated good agreement when compared to independent measurements.
Open Access
Rice evapotranspiration estimates and crop coefficients in Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District, Sacramento Valley, California
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Lal, Deepak, author; Clark, Byron, author; Bettner, Thad, author; Thoreson, Bryan, author; Snyder, Richard, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL®) was applied to estimate remotely sensed evapotranspiration (ET) in the Sacramento Valley (California) for the 2001 crop growing season. The ET estimated by SEBAL was compared to ground-based Surface Renewal ET estimates for a rice field near Nicolaus at daily, monthly and seasonal time scales. For June through September (the period of coincident ET estimates), the SEBAL ET estimate of 33.0 inches was 5 percent more than the Surface Renewal estimate of 31.4 inches. The April 1 through September 30 rice ET estimated by SEBAL was 42.9 inches for this field. Additionally, district-wide rice crop coefficients were developed for Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District (GCID). GCID is the largest irrigation district in the Sacramento Valley, serving 138,800 irrigated acres. The primary crop grown in GCID is rice. The SEBAL ET results for rice fields in GCID were used to compute average crop coefficient values for each image date and for the months of April through September for the 2001 growing season. The crop coefficients developed from remotely sensed ET were compared to published crop coefficients for rice ET. For the 2,060 rice fields identified for the crop coefficient analysis, the average full April 1 through September 30 rice ET estimate by SEBAL was 39.0 inches.
Open Access
Red Bridge water reuse project
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-04) Brown, Chad, author; Thornton, Jamison, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Strawberry High Line Canal Company (SHLCC) recently completed the Red Bridge Water Reuse Project. The project developed approximately 10 cfs of an underutilized water supply in Spring Creek, near Payson, Utah. The water is primarily return flow from the United States Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Strawberry Valley Project lands. The return flows, which SHLCC has rights to, had not been fully utilized before the project. The majority of the return flows were being released into Utah Lake. The project constructed a new diversion structure on Spring Creek to replace the existing one. A new pump station, pipeline, and pond were constructed in conjunction with the new diversion. The pumped water is delivered to Laterals 20 and 20S of SHLCCs system. The lands serviced by Laterals 20 and 20S had previously limited water supply, but are now able to receive a full supply. By supplying water to these Laterals, water higher in the system can now be provided to municipal users for their secondary water systems and irrigators within the service area. The Red Bridge Water Reuse Project better manages SHLCC's water. There is 1,800 ac-ft of increased supply, which became 1,800 ac-ft of indirect water conservation. This is reuse water that is being marketed to existing SHLCC stockholders. The increase in water supply is approximately three percent of the total SHLCC water supply. Water is now available to shareholders elsewhere within the system or left in storage within the Strawberry Reservoir for future use.