Agricultural water resources decision support (AWARDS)
Date
1998-06
Authors
Brower, L. Albert, author
Hartzell, Curtis L., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Abstract
The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) is the largest wholesale supplier of water in the United States and serves more than 31 million people in the 17 contiguous Western States, providing more than 9.3 trillion gallons of water each year. Accurate, timely hydrometeorological information is essential for efficient water management. The National Weather Service (NWS), in partnership with other agencies, has installed a network of around 160 radar systems throughout the United States and at selected overseas sites, known as the NEXt generation weather RADar (NEXRAD) system. The NEXRAD system provides precipitation information that is readily available to the general public (TV weather, Internet). Great potential exists for agencies such as Reclamation to apply enhanced NEXRAD precipitation products for improving the efficiency of water resource operations and reducing risk of loss from extreme precipitation events. Reclamation's initial work to make operational use of NEXRAD rainfall estimates was the development of an automated information system to assist water users. The result, called the Agricultural WAter Resources Decision Support (AWARDS) system, provides easy, timely access to rainfall and daily crop water use estimates for improving the efficiency of water management and irrigation scheduling. An Early Warning System (EWS) component will provide enhanced public safety to populations at risk downstream from dam structures.
Description
Presented at Contemporary challenges for irrigation and drainage: proceedings from the USCID 14th technical conference on irrigation, drainage and flood control held on June 3-6, 1998 in Phoenix, Arizona.