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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. . <br /> <br />(1) lining, enclosing and consolidating canals, laterals and ditches <br /> <br /> <br />to reduce or eliminate seepage and evaporation; (2) use of return <br /> <br />flow and tail water recovery systems to allow ~euse of the water; <br /> <br />and (3) increasing irrigation application efficiencies in order <br /> <br />to provide a sufficient amount of water at the root zone to avoid <br /> <br />plant stress, but no more. The latter may involve the installation <br /> <br /> <br />of water control structures, sprinkler or drip irrigation systems, <br /> <br />land leveling or contouring, soil moisture monitoring and irrigation <br /> <br /> <br />scheduling, and improved tillage practices. <br /> <br />Other less widely accepted conservation practices include <br /> <br /> <br />the use of evaporation suppressants, using waters of impaired <br /> <br />quality such as saline waters and treated municipal wastewaters, <br /> <br />and drought or salinity tolerant cropping. <br /> <br />The illustration on the next page represents various typical <br />water uses in the West, and displays how they interact within the <br />hydrologic cycle. Waters may be captured either by pumping ground <br />water or through surface water withdrawals. Often the latter <br />involves the construction and operation of dams and reservoirs <br />which can make water available for multiple uses. <br /> <br />The left-hand portion of the figure shows that water captured, <br /> <br />withdrawn and applied to agricultural lands returns to the hydrologic <br /> <br /> <br />cycle through seepage and percolation to ground water, and as <br /> <br />returnflow runoff to the river. These waters are again available <br /> <br />for recapture and use, often many times. Such recoverable waters <br /> <br />i~/ <br />