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<br />Footnotes Continued - Annualized Adverse NED Effects <br /> <br />The irriga:ion water management practice includes the operation, maintenance <br />and replacement of water measuring structures and associated gauges. It also <br />consists of water measurement, in the soil and in the ditch, and how <br />uniformily it was applied on the field. It requires scheduling of irrigation <br />at the right time and in the proper amount based on plant needs. Irrigation <br />water management is estimated to cost $10 per acre annually. <br /> <br />This cost is comparable to fees charged by local .consulting firms. Consulting <br />firms generally do not keep on-going records especially with comparison of <br />physical changes resulting from the planning and application of resource <br />management systems. This may include crop yields, number of irrigations, <br />hours of irrigation labor, fertilizer use, the number and type of tillage <br />operations, soil compaction layers and weed infestation. <br /> <br />d. Soil, Water and Plant Management Practices <br /> <br />Conservation Cropping Sequence <br />Crop residue use <br />Irrigation Water Management <br />Estimated per acre average annual cost <br /> <br />$ I <br />3 <br />10 <br />$ 14 <br /> <br />3/ The estimated average annual operation, maintenance and replacement per acre <br />costs for on-going 5C5 technical assistance and farmer financial expenditures <br />for enduring practices were computed by the following techniques: <br /> <br />a. The irrigation ditch lining feature of this analysis will be based on a <br />combination of concrete ditch and structures for water control. The Yuma <br />Field Office Technical Guide, Section III, Resource Management Systems <br />displays the results of planning and application. The before and after <br />installed resource management systems for alfalfa indicates an average ditch <br />capacity bcing increased from 15 to 23 cfs. The average number of irrigation <br />turnouts decreased from 1.6 per acre to 0.47. <br /> <br />The concrete ditch will require repair and cleaning. This could be from <br />occasional damage requiring crack repairs or replacing damaged gates, aprons. <br />and dissipators. Estimated annual cost is one dollar per acre. . <br /> <br />b. The irrigation land leveling requires maintenance. The irrigation surface <br />of basins must be uniform to function properly. Laser touchup is required. <br />Estimated maintenance cost is four dollars per acre annually. <br /> <br />c. Trickle irrigation systems were installed on less than 3 percent of the <br />contracts. The operation, maintenance and replacement differences between <br />trickle and surface systems are complex and must be considered by individual <br />fields. These costs were not computed since the average annual amounts per <br />acre on the 48,195 acres treated are very small. <br /> <br />-26- <br />