WSP01435

• File Number: 8271.300
• Description: Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program - General Information and Publications-Reports
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 12/1/1993
• Title: CRSCP - Lower Gunnison Basin Surge Demonstration - Program Accomplishments Report for Calendar Years 1992-1993
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Amajor challenge is to convince producers in the area that it is ok to reduce the amount of water
used, even though water in this area is so abundant and cheap, In some cases, over-inigation tends to
be the norm because producers fear that they will lose their water rights, The old adage is if you don't
use it (irrigation water), you loose it

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Objectives and Results

The objecti ve of the Surge Demonstrations was to test and demonstrate surge technology to local
ranchers and farmers, It has been proven elsewhere that surge liTigation enables irrigation water
managers the opportunity to achieve higher irrigation efficiencies and uniform application of liTigation
water, while reducing deep percolation and runoff. Surge irrigation decreases the potential for deep
percolation and runoff, which is the major cause of salt loading into tributaries and eventually the
Colorado River,

Surge Irrigation Systems were used by cooperating agricultural producers to irrigate their crops,
In 1992 and 1993 combined, the results shown reflect 105 irrigation events that yielded usable data out '
of the 216 that were monitored in the Lower Gunnison Basin Units I, 2, and 3, Deep percolation
reduction of739.19 acre inches made it possible to achieve a salt load reduction of2,516,72 tons of salt
The salt factor used to convert the deep percolation data was 0337 tons/acre/inch of reducton of deep
percolation, This figure was taken as an average value for the entire Lower Gunnison Basin Area. The
results from both areas, Montrose and Delta, are shown in Table 1,

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The 1993 infiltration data is shown in Table 7 for the Delta area and Table 9 for the Montrose area,
The results were delived from the total irrigation events where inflow and outflow data was collected,
The data obtained indicates that the intake rate of conventional liTigations was much higher than SCS
standard values, The surge li1igation data obtained in the trials was much closer to the SCS intake rate
families and fun'ow family intake values. This further validates the hypothesis that surge inigation
reduces deep percolation, helps to reduce salt displacement and contIibutes to a more uniform
application of water throughout the fields being liTigated,

The success of the Surge Demonstration Program is illustrated by the fact that the majority of
producers often express theli' satisfaction with the results they see in their fields, They have observed
better lITigation Water Management (IWM) opportunities and increased quality and crop yields, It is

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Page 12 . Lower Gunnison Surge Demonstration Project