Irrigation district operational metrics
Date
2009-06
Authors
Knell, Steven R., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
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Abstract
Oakdale Irrigation District (OID), located in the upper portion of the San Joaquin Valley, provides irrigation and domestic water service to rural northeastern Stanislaus County. The OID's service area is comprised of 72,345 acres of which approximately 55,000 acres are irrigated farmland. Within that service area are 40 miles of main canals inclusive of 23 hard and soft rock tunnels, 330 miles of laterals and pipelines, 110 miles of drains, 22 deep wells and 43 reclamation pump systems. Within the irrigated portion of the service area OID's agricultural customers grow a variety of crops, inclusive of pasture, almonds, walnuts, corn and rice. OID is also part owner of the Tri Dam Project with its sister district South San Joaquin Irrigation District. Tri Dam consists of three dam structures and four hydro-electric generating plants on the Stanislaus River. The district had for many decades been a hand-to-mouth district until recently, where through some fortunate economic events; retirement of long term debt in 2002 and a renegotiated wholesale power contract in 2004, has acquired the financial means to begin replacing and modernizing its aged infrastructure. Prior to those events the district had been evaluating its performances in all aspects of daily operations to find ways to improve its operational efficiency and get the most out of its resources. To reach that goal, early in 2002 the district set up some operation metrics to gage their performance. These metrics allowed the district to find areas of potential improvement and to measure change as change was implemented. This paper will discuss some of the operational metrics used, some quite simple, and how those metrics were used to bring change to OID.
Description
Presented at Irrigation district sustainability - strategies to meet the challenges: USCID irrigation district specialty conference held on June 3-6, 2009 in Reno, Nevada.