Laserfiche WebLink
<br />r <br /> <br />Ou;)747 <br /> <br />~. <br /> <br /> <br />Under present conditions, conservation largely occurs through changes in operations or adoption of <br />conservation practices by individual operators, These decisions occur in response to varying combinations of <br />institutional and economic factors that exist within any given region or basin, In areas where irrigation water <br />is obtained by pumping from deep ground water aquifers, economic incentives for water conservation exist <br />because practices that result in increased application efficiency can frequently be justified on the basis of <br />decreased pumping costs, In addition, institutional incentives in the form of restrictions on the rate of aquifer <br />depletion encourage the adoption of irrigation water conservation practices, In the alluvial watershed basins <br />where water is obtained from surface diversions or shallow aquifers, incentives for adopting practices that <br />decrease nonbeneficial consumptive use or result in saved water are somewhat limited unless the water <br />conserved can be used to extend supplies under the terms of an existing water-right decree, The Colorado <br />River Basin Salinity Control Act and its amendments is an example of an institutional initiative that provides <br />economic incentives for water conservation, The intent is to reduce salt loading in the Colorado River by <br />providing cost -share funds for irrigation system improvements that allow for decreased surface water <br />diversions. <br /> <br />The implications of irrigation water conservation are an important consideration, especially in watershed <br />basins where water is derived from surface "diversions or shallow alluvial aquifers, Under these conditions, <br />wide-scale adoption of conservation practices designed to increase diversion efficiencies has the potential of <br />altering basin hydrology by reducing the magnitude of return flows, Conversely, the implications of <br />agricultural water conservation in areas of the eastern plains, where deep aquifers are the source of irrigation <br />water, are largely positive because of the overall effect of prolonging the usable life of the aquifer and, thus, <br />the economic viability of the region. Because of variation in potential impacts of irrigation water <br />conservation, the task force concluded that policy initiatives designed to implement conservation should be <br />based on how water is used at the basin level rather than the individual farm level. Also, impacts of water ' <br />conservation strategies on interstate compact obligations must be considered. <br /> <br />,:"\ <br /> <br />:-f <br />i <br /> <br />,I <br />" <br /> <br />.i <br />" <br /> <br />i <br /> <br />\ <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />2 <br /> <br />: <br /> <br />w <br />