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<br />, <br /> <br />AG JOURNAL MARCf/6, /99S <br />'Vater usage from 81 <br /> <br />,B3 <br /> <br /> <br />Photo by Sue Keeter <br />CSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION exhibited a model of runoff using <br />Ihe polymer PAM at the Irrigation Managemenl Workshop. PAM and <br />other polymers reduce erosion by helping soil particles setlie out. It <br />also reduces the friclion of the waler flow over the soil. Participants <br />",,'tech the model, as PAM-treated water (left) collects Iitlie sediment <br />and causes clear runoff. <br />\';dull[ aJJressed Ih,:: use of <br />rt'st'r\"uir-" for jrrig~Hion. "The good <br />new" j, we have v.'ater the year <br />rOllnd; chC' baLl news is we have water <br />the y.:ar rounJ:' he said. <br />The rl\"r:r erod.::s the soil and takes <br />bnd out of production, he said, but <br />s;llinilY i" a bigger problem. Ea')t of <br />Ilnlly. di"solvcd solids have been <br />rC'cllnkd ;I" high as j 100 p:uts pa <br />f1\ilIlUll. The llse of surge irrig.ltion <br />reducl's infiltration and increases <br />J:ltcnl pL'nctration. Producers can <br />get rht: .'<\flle yield with a 35 percent <br />dc(r.-.::\":;C' in water lIse using surge <br />jri"i~'lti(1n. he said. <br />V.lli;uH saie! polymers can llbsorb <br />w~lt...r ah'IUl to 1400 times their o\\'n <br />\vcight. Onion research hns reduced <br />the: n!l10unt of topsoil loss by 83 <br />p~r(cl1t using PA[>..'I; Hydrog~1 has <br />in'~r".':~~:;:c! tomato production by <br />three and a half lOns per acre. Valiant <br />s:.tiJ su~t :cnd water should always be <br />tested before planting. <br />Tom ~Iusgrove, comptiance <br />spcciJlist with the U.S. Bureau of <br />RcdafllCttion's Pueblo Field Office, <br />gave an upd:lte on repairs to the <br />PlI,.'bl, I fJJ!ll. Research has found <br />t!l:lt one of the dam's buttresses <br /> <br />could fall off because it i_" on a ~hale <br />Se~lI11_ However, this is not imminent <br />and no movement hJS ken detected <br />since the dam WJ:\ built. <br />But with public safety the Bureau's <br />number one conr.::ern, itl July a <br />storage restriction was pl.IC~c1 on the <br />storage pool. :-tnd by April 15. 10,000 <br />acre feet of watl'r will nCl'd to be <br />uumped. After discussing several <br />\vays to rcpJir the dam, it kl." been <br />decided lO fill [he plunge pno! \vith <br />concrete, put structural COllcr('tl' over <br />it and add the spilling b.lsin un top. <br />The $25 to 38 million project is <br />expccto:::d to be cornpkt::::J hy lhe end <br />of 1999. The O.S, governlllent will <br />pJ)' 83 percent of Ih-.: co.;t, with the <br />remaining 15 percent to be p;lid for <br />by water users in the ArkJnsas <br />Valley. r-,:fusgrovc said. <br />Gary BanLl~lo5 of the USDA Water <br />Management Research Lab in <br />Fresno, Calif.. talked about his <br />r..:search using plants that arc able to <br />tolerate salts and use scknium. <br />Although selenium doesn't appear to <br />be a problem currently in the", <br />Arkansas Valley, he expects (hat it <br />will be before long. <br />