Water Supply and Storage

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10217/195482

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Open Access
Drought management in northeastern Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Zimbelman, Darell D., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (the District) has established a set of policies and procedures and constructed a water storage and distribution system that allows for the effective and efficient transfer of water, on an annual rental basis or on a permanent basis, to meet changing demands or climatological conditions, including drought. In fact, the District was created and the Project designed during and following the drought of the 1930's. The District operates and maintains the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, which captures runoff from the head waters of the Colorado River on the West Slope of the Rocky Mountains. The stored water is then transferred to storage reservoirs on the East Slope of the mountains, for subsequent delivery to District allottees. The District delivers an annual average of 240,000 acre-feet to supplement the runoff of six East Slope drainages, namely the Cache la Poudre River, the Big Thompson River, the Little Thompson River, and St. Vrain River, Left Hand Creek, and Boulder Creek. The amount of water delivered by the District is directly related to the anticipated runoff from the East Slope drainages, and in most years can offset the impact of below normal runoff. Approximately 30 percent of the deliveries are for municipal and industrial uses, with the remainder being for agricultural uses. The District's policies and procedures allow water to be transferred from one allottee to another on an annual rental basis, without regard to type of use or location, simply by filling out a post card type form and mailing it to the District offices. This is a powerful management system which allows water transfers to be made on an annual basis to the individual or entity with the "greatest" demand. Water can also be transferred permanently. While administratively a permanent transfer is a bit more lengthy, it allows water to be transferred to meet the overall changing demands of the area, namely from agriculture to municipal use. These transfers can occur without being encumbered by the very lengthy, and on occasion costly, process placed on other water supplies by the Colorado water rights system. The Colorado water rights system is a judicial process in which a transfer in water right must be submitted to the water court along with necessary legal and engineering reports which demonstrates that senior water rights holders will not be adversely impacted by the transfer. Since this process is open to legal objection, it can, if the transfer is protested, result in a substantial delay in time and a significant commitment of funds to complete the transfer. Ultimately it may result in less water being transferred than was desired.
Open Access
A complete plan "…experiences from the U.S."
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Macy, Peter, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Open Access
Effectiveness of drought predictions
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Moore, Lewis, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Open Access
Economic and environmental impacts of a large scale water transfer in the Colorado River Basin
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Oamek, George, author; Johnson, Stanley R., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The direct economic, and offsite environmental impacts of a 400,000 acre foot water transfer between irrigators in the Upper Basin of the Colorado River and urban users in the Lower Basin was examined. Results indicated that the transfer would result in considerable offsite benefits, with minimal disruption to local agriculture.
Open Access
Water banking in Idaho
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Rigby, Richard M., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Some irrigation projects in the Pacific Northwest are 50 - 70 years old. Storage and delivery facilities were originally constructed based on the best available data and permanent water allocations were made to meet the identified agricultural water needs. The intervening years have brought changes in farming practices and associated water needs, as well as the identification of new competing demands for water. When water supplies are fully allocated to existing users, the opportunities to develop new uses may be very limited. Water banking provides an opportunity to temporarily transfer water from an established water right holder to another. Two water banks are presently functioning within the State of Idaho. These banks enable water users to transfer their storage entitlements to other users. Water banking is expressly authorized by Idaho law and the existing water banks function with the support and assistance of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Idaho Department of Water Resources.
Open Access
Managing Utah's water through interbasin transfer
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Dimick, Franklin E., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
In order to utilize and manage the portion of Colorado River Water allotted to the State of Utah to the fullest extent, a significant problem has to be overcome. Approximately 80% of the population of Utah lives along the Wasatch Front between Ogden and Provo in the Bonneville Basin. The area in the eastern part of the state that is in the Colorado River Drainage Basin is very sparsely populated and has relatively little irrigable land. This means that in order to maximize the use of this water, it must be transferred between basins. The Bureau of Reclamation planned, designed and is constructing the Central Utah Project to achieve this interbasin transfer. The purpose of this project is to divert water from streams that are tributary to the Colorado River and transport it to the Bonneville Basin where the major population centers and the prime irrigab1e lands are located. The major features of the Project used for the interbasin transfer are the Strawberry Aqueduct, three storage reservoirs (one with a capacity of over one million acre-feet), and seven diversions structures of various capacities. Additional storage reservoirs have also been built downstream of the aqueduct to capture and store excess runoff to minimize the impacts created by diverting the water. Proper operation and management of this system will result in the interbasin transfer of 142,500 acre-feet of water annually, in addition to the 56,700 acre-feet diverted for the Strawberry Project, thus utilizing a portion of Utah's Colorado River water.
Open Access
A management improvement process to effectively change irrigated agriculture
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Dedrick, A. R., author; Clyma, Wayne, author; Palmer, J. D., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A management improvement program to improve the performance of irrigated agriculture is described. The improvement process entails three general phases. Diagnostic analysis is an interdisciplinary field study to thoroughly understand the actual performance of an irrigation system. Areas of high and low performance are identified. Management planning is a process for organizational change. The process uses the information and understanding obtained from the diagnostic analysis to make important changes in physical structures and/or management procedures for improving irrigation system performance. Management performance is carrying out the management plan. Monitoring and evaluation is included to assist in management decision making and to measure the impact of the changes on system performance. The management planning is done by the key managers in an irrigated area, farmer representatives, and representatives from other involved organizations. Conscious, deliberate applications of the processes offer important advantages to the farming community and to water management professionals. The results are effective, appropriate solutions to many relevant problems in irrigation.
Open Access
A stochastic programming model of salinity in the Colorado River Basin
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Lee, Donna J., author; Howitt, Richard E., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Along the Colorado River, naturally occurring salts underlie basin soils. Irrigation water leaches salt from the soil and return flows transport the salt to the river. As a result of salinity, downstream agricultural, municipal, and industrial uses suffer millions of dollars in damages each year. Weather variability can induce large swings in river flow volume, and hence river salinity. During periods of drought, problems due to salinity are worst. Currently, water quality policy decisions are based on average river flows. As a result, river water quality may exceed federal salinity standards during low flow years. This research details an approach for selecting mitigation alternatives to meet or exceed water quality standards under variable river flow conditions. Decisions are based on the value of clean water to downstream agriculture, the cost of mitigation, the variability of river flows, and the risk criteria of policy makers. Regions included in the model are the Grand Valley and Lower Gunnison Basin in Colorado, the Uinta Basin and the Price and San Rafael Regions in Utah, and the Imperial Valley in California.
Open Access
The benefits of irrigation in mitigating the impacts of drought
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Schluntz, Larry J., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
A few comments regarding the economic impacts of drought are made, then a model of a livestock ranch with and without irrigation is presented. The hypothesis is that irrigation reduces risk and stabilizes production of roughage, consequently there is better utilization of the cow herd and associated production factors. A dynamic linear programming model was constructed which captured the variations in yields and prices over time. Results verified that irrigation has a positive impact on income for ranchers, and a dynamic model more accurately simulates these impacts than a static model.
Open Access
Bureau of Reclamation and the drought relief acts of 1977 and 1988
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Phillips, Tom, author; Ludwig, Jane, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Drought conditions in widespread portions of the Western United States occurred in 1977 and again in 1987 and 1988. In each case, the Congress of the United States responded by passing legislation directing the Bureau of Reclamation to mitigate the effects of the drought through financial aid and resource management. The Drought Act of 1977 and the Reclamation States Drought Assistance Act of 1988 are essentially repetitive, differing in some implementation constraints and in some areas of emphasis. Both acts are inadequate to address the emergency nature of drought programs due to time-consuming Federal restrictions that are not waived, a lack of existing directives for implementing contingency plans, and a myriad of conflicting local, state, and Federal laws and policies. The drought crisis has passed before programs can be implemented to conserve or redistribute scarce water resources or to provide financial aid. The paper compares the two acts and provides suggestions for more appropriate legislation response for future droughts.
Open Access
Designing a supplemental irrigation system
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Samani, Zohrab A., author; Hargreaves, George H., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
In the dry season when the rainfall contribution to crop water requirement is not significant, the amount of land to be irrigated for maximum profit with a limited supply of water, can be easily calculated. However, in the rainy season when rainfall contributes a significant amount of the crop water requirement, the amount of land which can be irrigated by a supplemental irrigation system varies due to spatial variability of rainfall. In designing a supplemental irrigation system the long term variability of rainfall as well as economical parameters should be taken into account. This paper describes a methodology for designing a supplemental irrigation system and for calculating the optimum amount of land which should be irrigated with a limited supply of water. The optimum amount of land to be irrigated is calculated for one station in EI Salvador using crop yield models, long-term climatological data and economical parameters. since the day to day climatological data are not often available in many countries, the paper describes how a climatological data-base together with a weather generating model can be used to design a supplemental irrigation system.
Open Access
A methodology for analyzing alternative reservoir shortage and operating criteria
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Oamek, George, author; Schluntz, Larry, author; Bottorft, Loren, author; Johns, Eldon, author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
The Bureau of Reclamation's shifting emphasis from a construction oriented agency to a water management agency has initiated the development of analytical tools for estimating the benefits, and changes in benefits, of alternative reservoir sizes (for new projects) and operating criteria (for existing projects). This paper presents a new methodological approach for estimating the marginal, or change in, economic benefits for a project and applies it to several case studies. The modeling system developed from this effort links a spreadsheet-based model of reservoir operations to economic models of various demand sectors, including irrigation, municipal and industrial uses (M&I), and instream flow. Linking the models results in quick response in estimating the annual marginal economic benefits of alternative reservoir sizes and operating criteria. When applied to a case study of an existing Southern California reservoir, the modeling system estimated the annual benefits of reservoir enlargement and changes in operating criteria. Additional case studies for projects in Oregon, Kansas, and Colorado have demonstrated the ability of the methodology to be adapted to a wide range of hydrologic conditions and project purposes.
Open Access
Water marketing in California
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1989) Easton, James L., author; U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Few things have been talked about more and done less in California than water marketing. It's interesting that in one of the world's consummate entrepreneurial environments, a commodity as vital as water is so difficult to buy and sell. Why has water marketing become widely used in the rest of the southwestern United States and even in the Midwest and not in California? The answer to that question is complex. The discussion of water marketing will be divided to treat surface and subsurface water separately.
Open Access
Economics and administration of water resources
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1969) Nobe, Kenneth C., author; Natural Resources Center, Colorado State University, publisher
Open Access
Economics and administration of water resources
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1969) Flack, J. Ernest, author; Natural Resources Center, Colorado State University, publisher
Open Access
Economics of ground water development in the High Plains of Colorado
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1969) Rohdy, Donald D., author; Natural Resources Center, Colorado State University, publisher
Open Access
From storage to retention: expanding California's options for meeting its water needs
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012-11) California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply, author
The California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply (CRWFS) is a consensus-based forum for thought leaders to uncover obstacles, identify solutions, and take action to enhance water security for agriculture, the public and the environment. Participants share a dedication to a healthy and balanced future for California and each bring deep experience on issues at the intersection of water supply and agriculture to the table. California is not water-scarce per se, but storage-scarce. Responding to the importance of this issue, members of the California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply undertook a dialogue on water storage, building on a 2011 report by the Roundtable: Agricultural Water Stewardship. This work acknowledges that smart use of water must be complemented by more effective stewardship of supplies, extending and renewing them through reuse and added storage, which have potential to substantially increase water security.
Open Access
Agricultural water stewardship: recommendations to optimize outcomes for speciality crop growers and the public in California
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011-06) California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply, author
The California Roundtable on Water and Food Supply (CRWFS) is a consensus-based forum for thought leaders to uncover obstacles, identify solutions, and take action to enhance water security for agriculture, the public and the environment. Participants share a dedication to a healthy and balanced future for California and each bring deep experience on issues at the intersection of water supply and agriculture to the table. Roundtable members identified agricultural water stewardship as a key area of importance for sound long-term water management. The group held a series of meetings to build a common understanding of agricultural water use, develop a unified set of principles that underlie long-term solutions, the need to optimize water use through urban and agricultural water stewardship, and create recommendations for decision-makers and the public on balanced solutions to tough agricultural water issues. This report is the product of those efforts.
Open Access
A history of drought in Colorado: lessons learned and what lies ahead
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2000-02) McKee, Thomas B., author; Doesken, Nolan J., author; Kleist, John, author; Shrier, Catherine J., author; Stanton, Willaim P., author; Colorado State University, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, publisher
Open Access
Irrigation water use in the Yampa River Basin
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 1998-11) Smith, Danny H., author; Nichols, R. H., author; Smith, F. M., author; Holt, Kent, author; Colorado State University, Colorado Water Resources Research Institute, publisher