PUB00050 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

As with urban areas, the drive for water use efficiency has become institutionalized in agriculture through numerous federal, state and local programs. DWR has developed and expanded its computerized California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS) that provides data farmers can use to gauge the amount of water their crops need on a daily basis. CIMIS uses more than 85 automated stations across the state 10 gather weather data used to provide location~specific information on plant water usage (a process known as evapotranspira~ tion). Changes in evapotranspiration rates can be correlated by growers with published crop coetticients to yield estimates of optimal water needs of specific crops for specific geographic areas. Using CIMIS data, growers of early- season peaches were able to reduce water use by 30 percent, according to a DWR report. A Kings County commer- cial walnut grower reported a $245 per acre increase in profit over a tive-year period atter a CIMIS-based water management plan was adopted. The campaign to increase agricultural water use etticiency is being waged by both water suppliers and by farmers. In the farming areas in the south~ eastern corner of the state supplied by the Colorado River, the federal government estimates it loses 70,000 acre-feet of water per year to leakage in the All-American Canal serving the Imperial and Coachella valleys, and has proposed lining it and other canals. Water districts that supply agricultural users, such as the huge West lands Water District in the San Joaquin Valley, provide educational materials to farmers and cost~sharing programs to enable farmers to implement water efficient irrigation practices. Farmers say their water use efficiency already is high, but uncertainty about future supplies is motivating moves toward even greater water etticiency. The 1987-1993 drought brought home to farmers the vulnerability of their water supplies. Ongoing debates about the future of the Della and implementation of the CVP Improve- ment Act (CVPIA) heighten their concern. In the face of uncertainty, farmers are looking for ways to protect their investments in land and equip- ment, and one way is by maximizing water use efficiency. On~farm conserva. tion methods include using more efficient irrigation systems and scheduling irrigation to maximize watering effectiveness. Water experts believe the biggest payoffs most often come from well managed irriga~ tion systems, not necessarily from installing new hardware, however. AG MOU Legislation enacted in 1990 (AB 3616) resulled in development of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) by which signatory irrigation districts and water agencies commit to adopt a number of mandatory and conditional "Efficient Water Manage- ment Practices (EWMPs):' These EWMPs are the agricultural analogs of the "Best Management Prac- tices'. (BMPs) designed for urban water suppliers. The MOU recognizes that individual EWMPs may not be appropriate for all water purveyors. The MOU requires signatory water suppliers to submit water management plans to the Agricultural Water Management Council comprised of one member from each signatory agency. In addifion to the six "universally applicable" EWMPs. there are a dozen "conditionally applicable" EWMPs that may be adopted by signatory agencies on an as~needed basis, subject to cost/benefit analysis. These measures include construction and operation of tailwater reuse systems, automation of canal structures, and installation of water meters to Iile cOlllpull'ri;:ed California Irrigatiun AfmUlKement II~rorlllati()n System operated by [he 5tate lJepartlllel/1 of Hiller Resources uses more thall 85 lllttuHlll1ed station'i across the stall' [0 gather \\'earher data farmers can Itse to gauge the amOll1l1 of water their crops Ill'ed 011 a d(lilybasi.'i. 9