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<br />Water savings <br />begin at the pump- <br />end at the hank <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />WHEN Burlington farmer <br />Fred Wedel called Vem <br />Bauer. he had one thing on his <br />mind: The natural gas.powered <br />pump he was using to flood. <br />irrigate 90 acres of ri~till <br />corn hadn't been pulled. since it <br />was installed in the early <br />1960.,. Bauer heads the BUl"- <br />lington Irrigation Pump-test. <br />ing Program and Wedel <br />wanted his advice on a w0rri- <br />some new vibration in his <br />pump. Could be count 00 it not <br />to break down in mid-988SOD. <br />when a week without water <br />could set back his crop? <br />Wedel. wbo uses the corn be <br />grows as feed in his bog ~ <br />tiOD. was familiar with the <br />Burlington Irrigation Pump- <br />teSting Program even before <br />his concern about his pump. <br />"Being on the BurlingtOn Soil <br />Conservation District Board. I <br />knew Vern was working OIl the <br />pump-testing team, and we <br />just got to working togec.her <br />on it." says Wedel. who had <br />worked with Bauer earlier aD <br />other conservation practices <br />aimed at boosting efficienc:y. <br />Vern Bauer has been with <br />the BurlingtOD teSting team <br />.since it beglUl in May 1986. His <br />team. and two others located in <br />HutuD and in Wray, are man- <br />aged by the Colorado State <br />Soil Conservation Board in <br />cooperation with the Soil C0n- <br />servation Service of the <br />USDA. Bauer says that his <br />experience with Wedel is typ- <br />ical in that farmers tend to <br />come to him with a concrete <br />question. Well tests are re- <br />quested because that grower <br />has a specific question: "Why <br />isn't it pumping as much as it <br />used to?" <br />Wedel called Bauer and ar- <br />ranged. to have a complete <br />pump test run.. AItlu>ugb mast <br />well tests onlv show the need <br />for minor adjustments. in We- <br />del. s case. the recommendation <br />was for a new pump. Wedel <br />says. "The main thing that <br />was wro~g with it was that it <br />was the wrong size.'. A relic of <br />the days when water levels in <br />the Ogallala Aquifer were <br />much higher. the pump had <br />1.000-gallon bowls. Last <br />spring. Wedel was pumping <br />around 575 gallons. which <br />meant he had to resort to the <br />inefficient technique of throt. <br />tling down to decrease the rpm <br />and keep the pump from surg- <br />ing. Bauer found that the <br />pump was operating at 54% <br />efficiency. much less than is <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />lrrigation pump-testing <br />program harnesses efficiency on <br />hardware; then it helps farmers <br />fine-tune moisture management <br /> <br />considered optimum. <br />Other factors entered into <br />Wedel's decision to purchase a <br />new pump. Bauer says. "Along <br />with the energy savings you'U <br />realize from a more efficient <br />pump. you have to consider the <br />decreased probability that the <br />pump will break down, as well <br />as the decrease in repair and <br />service costs." <br />Bauer figures that the in- <br />crease in efficiency resulting <br />from simple replacment of the <br />pump would save 10% of the <br />total energy biII. or S500-S6oo <br />a year. (This figure will be <br />lower in Wedel's case because <br />he opted to put in a pump <br />capable of handling a pivot <br />sprinkler system that he plans <br />to install in. a year or two.) In. <br />any cue. be can plan on . 10- <br />year payback from energy saVe <br />ings alone. at CUlTeDt energy <br />rateS. <br />Most of the pumps Bauer <br />tested in the program's first <br />year required only minor ad- <br />justments that could be made <br />at little or no cost to the land. <br />owner. such as adjusting im- <br />pellers. adjusting the pressure <br />of gas flow. minor adjustments <br />on engines or operating the <br />pump at the proper rpm. In one <br />pump that Bauer and his assis- <br />tant tested. the simple lower- <br />ing of the impellers picked up <br />20 gallons mOre per minute <br />with the same energy used. <br />Baer is a good person for <br />growers to go to with their <br />questions about irrigation effi. <br />ciency. A farmer for 17 years, <br />be lwl his first uperi.,.,e with <br />irrigation when he was a child <br />belping his father irrigate sug. <br />arbeets with an open-ditch <br />method. '.1 graduated. from <br />that to irrigating with siphon <br />tubes," he says. "When I <br />moved to Burlizigton in 1974. I <br />developed my own wells and <br />sprinklers and went to sprin. <br />kler irrigation. " With 18 <br />months' wor; for a sprinkler <br />company thiown in. Bauer's <br />irrigation expertise stretches <br />across some 40 years. <br />The other two team leaders. <br />Bill Sauder. Haxtun. and Con- <br />rad Bauer, Wray. also bring <br />years of experience to their <br />jobs. Each team consists of one <br /> <br />CR&F 1161 <br /> <br />fulltime tester plus a seasonal <br />employee for the busiest part <br />of the year. The teams work in <br />conjunction with the SCS, <br />which has been conducting <br />pump tests in the Ogallala <br />Aquifer since the early 1980's. <br />Tbe SCS and tbe pump testing <br />teams have concentrated in the <br />areas irrigated with water from <br />the Ogallala because DOt only <br />do inefficient pumps there cost <br />growers millions of dollars a <br />year-they also waste water in <br />the declining aquifer. <br />The pumP-testingJrogram <br />begun by the Color 0 State <br />Soil Conservation Board <br />worked specifically OD pump <br />testing and irrigation system <br />checks for pattern application <br />and efficiency during its start. <br />up phase. The fint seascm was <br />funded by a 9-month grant <br />from the Colorado Office of <br />Energy Conservation and a <br /> <br />REel:-- <br /> <br />~('~ "';"'" <br />d" <br /> <br />C~)LOf\"\00 WATE~ <br />CONSERVATION <br />eoAilO <br /> <br />2-year cooperative fllT8.Dg!- <br />ment with the Western Area <br />Power Administration. <br />This spring the program was <br />extended through 1988 when it <br />was included. 10 a new project <br />called "Energ)-. Conservation <br />for Colorado Agriculture." <br />This project. funded with <br />S600.000 from the Office of <br />Energy Conservation.s Petro- <br />leum Overcharge Restitution <br />Program, is managed jointly <br />by the Soil Conservation <br />Board and Colorado State Uni- <br />versity Cooperative Ex~ <br />sion. It brings together five <br />programs aimed at helping Col- <br />orado farmers save money <br />through energy conservation: <br />Conservation tillage. irrigation <br />pump testing. irrigation effi- <br />ciency. on-farm energy audits <br />and tractor efficiency. <br />As of May 1987 the three <br />teams had tested a total of 236 <br />pumps. <br />By Marcb 1987 the teams <br />could report some impressive <br />statistics: Estimated energy <br />savings, based on 236 pumps <br />tested, were 2.242.230 <br />kWh/year on electric pumps <br />and 20.193 MCFlyear 11,000 <br /> <br />Praetiea iD additioD to pump teft8 that Fred Wedel baa adopted to__ <br />water ud IDODey iDdlld. ridge tilliDg (closeup of crop shown here}. SoiJ. <br />moiatan cbeek iD early JtIIU! IIhowed lIOil promilllDder tbia tiU.,..".wm <br />at 90'1. of fwd ca,.dty. OD. Deighboriag field with similar IOiI type aDd <br />nmraD amount bat dUferent tillag. .,.Hem w.. at 50% of capac:i.q. <br />Aaother field... at 80% of capacity. <br /> <br /> <br />, <br />