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<br />.,..... <br />:.(y;~ <br /> <br />w <br />C> <br />C <br />N <br /> <br />(~:v <br /> <br />underground pipeline. Water deli'Jered to the field is distributed to <br />the field through different irrlga,ion systems. <br /> <br />The irrigation systems commonly used by farmers include: earth ditch <br />to siphon tubes, concrete ditch to gated pipe, ported concrete ditch, <br />underground pipe line to gated pipe as \ole II as var i ous kinds of <br />sprinkler systems. These may be Grip, microspray, solid set sprinkler <br />or sideroll sprinkler. <br /> <br />b. Monitoring Site Description <br /> <br />Overview: The initial goal was to monitor 35 sites annually as, <br />outlined in the 1983 Grand Valley Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. <br />Since then, it has been decided'that at least 16 active monitoring <br />sites \oIould be maintained each year. A total of 35 sites coul~ be <br />monitored over the I ife of the M&E program by maintaining 16 to 20 <br />operating sites each year and rotating the equipment to new fields <br />after three to five years of irrigation moni~oring. Only a certain <br />number of sites can be maintained each year because of limited <br />equipment. Equipment cost for a monitoring site with one outlet and <br />an inlet runs from $5,000 to $6,000. This is a one-time capital cost <br />and not a repeating annual cost, Annual expenditures include nominal <br />operation and maintenance costs. <br /> <br />On-farm irrigation monitoring started in 1984 with the installation of <br />12 monitoring sites. Since then a minimum of 16 sites have been <br />maintained each year. Table 1 provides information on status of the <br />various sites established since 1985. Of the 16 original sites <br />installed in 1985, at least six were still being monitored through <br />1991 <Tab I e 1>. The rema i n i ng ten sites have bee,n dropped because of <br />various ~roblems wi'th maintenance and operations. <br /> <br />I r rig a t ion m 0 nit 0 r i n g sit e s we r'e est a b lis h e d tor e pre s e n t the g e n era I ' <br />conditions in the Grand Valley with regard to crops, soils, irr,igation <br />system and management pr'actices. Criteria establ ished for site <br />selection include: sites be isolated fr'om other fields, i,e. water' <br />source for inflow must be independent and tai l\oIater from outflo\ol must <br />be isolated so that water from other sources do not get mixed. A <br />monitoring site is defined as a single field or a fixed portion of a <br />field, that is irrigated as a single irrigation set or a series of <br />sets, A site has a fixed size thr'oughout the irrigation season. <br /> <br />Dai I y evapotr'ansp irati on (ET) data obtai ned from the two SCS weather <br />stations \oIas made available to two local television and radio stations <br />daily, Monday through Fr'iday, Weekly ET data \oIas provided to two <br />local ne\olspapers and Colorado State University Extension at Grand <br />Junction and Delta for their' code-a-phone service for local producers. <br /> <br />6 <br />