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<br />, <br /> <br />"() <br />,'. <br />-, <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br /> <br />The Bent Soil Conservation District has sponsored the Bent <br />Water Conservation Initiative project to address critical <br />issues in the lower Arkansas Valley of Colorado, These <br />issues included optimal use of limited irrigation resources <br />in the district, the maintenance of crop yield and quality <br />under increasing saline conditions, and off farm <br />environmental concerns related to the use of irrigation <br />water. <br /> <br />This project was designed and implemented to demonstrate the <br />applicability of surge technology on heavy textured soils in <br />Bent Soil Conservation District, document the impact of <br />surge irrigation technology on irrigation efficiency, farm <br />economics, farm management, and plant-soil-water <br />interrelationships; and develop the media resources needed <br />to convey this information to other farm managers in <br />southeast Colorado, and evaluate the affects of surge <br />technology on ground water resources and irrigation return <br />flows to the Arkansas River. <br /> <br />Over the last three years the project sponsored and <br />demonstrated surge irrigation technology with ten <br />cooperating agricultural producers in Bent County, The <br />project included the purchase and demonstrative use of ten <br />surge irrigation control valves placed on selected farms, <br />The farm selection criteria was farmer commitment, soil <br />characteristics, field shape and grade, and other <br />characteristics affecting project implementation, The farms <br />were documented based on qualitative data provided by the <br />producers, <br /> <br />The project was organized into three phases, The first <br />phase was documentation of pre-surge irrigation conditions, <br />providing training in surge irrigation principles to the <br />participating farmers, and addresses delivery system <br />improvements needed to implement surge irrigation <br />technology, <br /> <br />PROJECT BACKGROUND <br /> <br />The diversion of water from the Arkansas and purgatorie <br />Rivers was begun in the 1860's by settlers who grew crops to <br />support their ranching operations and to supply the needs of <br />the army at Fort Lyon, Because of this early development, <br />most of the irrigated lands, in Bent Soil Conservation <br />District, have been irrigated for over 100 years, As <br />