Irrigation district sustainability

Presented at Irrigation district sustainability - strategies to meet the challenges: USCID irrigation district specialty conference held on June 3-6, 2009 in Reno, Nevada.Fresno Irrigation District (FID) serves irrigation water to approximately 245,000 acres including the Cities of Fresno and Clovis, in California's Central San Joaquin Valley. As Clovis has developed they have looked for ways to diversify their water supply portfolio. Until recently, this mainly consisted of groundwater wells with some surface water supplies coming from FID. Clovis, in an effort to increase their dry year supplies, partnered with FID to develop the Waldron Banking Facilities. Through the agreement developed between Clovis and FID, Clovis provided half of the capital to develop the project in return for half of the project yield. Clovis also has the first right of refusal, on an annual basis, for any yield developed from the project. The Waldron Banking Facilities are comprised of three groundwater banking facilities located in the western portion of the District. In exchange for the banked supplies, FID then provides an equivalent amount of surface water to Clovis (in the eastern portion of FID). To develop a new water supply for the City and FID, during wet years and other times when surplus surface water supplies are available these supplies are routed to the groundwater recharge basins. In dry years, these banked supplies are then recovered from the aquifer, and delivered to FID growers. Two of the recharge basin sites were existing regulation basins, which were significantly expanded to add recharge capabilities. One of the sites is new, and placed at the bifurcation of one of FID's laterals. The recharge basin sites were strategically selected in order to provide an added benefit as regulation and storage basins that could be utilized during the irrigation season. The project was built over the course of three years, in phases. Now complete, the project includes approximately 250 acres of recharge basins, new measurement and control sites, seven recovery wells, and a network of monitoring wells. This paper will discuss the financial aspects of the project, project planning issues, design considerations, and how the twelve construction contracts were developed, managed and executed

DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR THE CORN, ETHANOL, AND BEEF SYSTEMS USING A LOOSELY COUPLED WEB FRAMEWORK

With the global population approaching 9 billion people by the year 2050, the world’s food, energy, and water (FEW) resources must be used more intelligently to provide for everyone. While we understand how individual FEW systems behave using modeling, we cannot understand the full environmental and production impacts of decisions in each system without understanding how they are all linked together. An approach to coupling these systems is starting with identifying a few highly interconnected FEW systems. The corn, ethanol, and beef systems are large economic and agricultural drivers in the Midwest United States and are highly linked. Many individual models exist for each system and are wrapped in software to be used for decision support. This thesis explores the integration of the corn, ethanol, and beef systems by connecting existing models using a loosely coupled web framework. Each model is wrapped in Python code and linked, also in Python, using connections that reflect the real world system. Environmental impact of the full integrated system is done using life cycle assessment that accounts for inputs and outputs for each model. Simulations done with the models predict the resource production of the integrated system given user inputs and the full environmental impacts in water use, energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. The objectives of this thesis are: (1) to review literature of FEW nexus integration by coupling models, (2) integrating the crop and biofuel systems with service-oriented architecture, and (3) integrating the corn, ethanol, and beef systems with service-oriented architecture. Scenario analyses are done to test the models’ responses to different management, climate, and resource demand scenarios. Advisors: Jeyamkondan Subbiah and Deepak Keshwan

Irrigation district sustainability

Presented at Irrigation district sustainability - strategies to meet the challenges: USCID irrigation district specialty conference held on June 3-6, 2009 in Reno, Nevada.The Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District (District) releases about 250,000 acre-feet per year from two water supply reservoirs in the Cache Creek watershed for the irrigation of about 60,000 acres of farmland in Yolo County, California. That water is diverted into the Winters Canal and the West Adams Canal at Capay Diversion Dam on Cache Creek. The continued operation of Capay Dam is vital to the sustained future of irrigated agriculture of the District. Urbanization and infrastructure construction in California resulted in extensive sand and gravel extraction from Cache Creek downstream of Capay Dam. Although that mineral extraction ceased many years ago, the streambed of Cache Creek has degraded. Presently the streambed elevation at the toe of Capay Dam is as much as 15 feet below the elevation of the apron of the dam and the dam is at risk due to downstream channel bed degradation and local scour during floods. Capay Dam is a concrete diversion that was constructed in 1915. The main portion of the dam is an overflow section about 475 feet long with low-level sluice gates and service spillways at both abutments. The abutments also contain the headworks for the irrigation canals. Due to streambed degradation, local scour at the toe of the apron and the more than 90-year service life of the structure, the District embarked on a program of dam inspection, including the use of non destructive testing of the concrete, and rehabilitating the dam and headworks so as to continue to provide a sustainable irrigation supply of surface water from Cache Creek. The dam inspection and rehabilitation and betterment program for Capay Diversion Dam is presented. This includes the issues of environmental permitting, stream morphology, sediment transport and historic data collection

Opportunities and limitations of crop phenotyping in southern european countries

ReviewThe Mediterranean climate is characterized by hot dry summers and frequent droughts. Mediterranean crops are frequently subjected to high evapotranspiration demands, soil water deficits, high temperatures, and photo-oxidative stress. These conditions will become more severe due to global warming which poses major challenges to the sustainability of the agricultural sector in Mediterranean countries. Selection of crop varieties adapted to future climatic conditions and more tolerant to extreme climatic events is urgently required. Plant phenotyping is a crucial approach to address these challenges. High-throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) helps to monitor the performance of improved genotypes and is one of the most effective strategies to improve the sustainability of agricultural production. In spite of the remarkable progress in basic knowledge and technology of plant phenotyping, there are still several practical, financial, and political constraints to implement HTPP approaches in field and controlled conditions across the Mediterranean. The European panorama of phenotyping is heterogeneous and integration of phenotyping data across different scales and translation of “phytotron research” to the field, and from model species to crops, remain major challenges. Moreover, solutions specifically tailored to Mediterranean agriculture (e.g., crops and environmental stresses) are in high demand, as the region is vulnerable to climate change and to desertification processes. The specific phenotyping requirements of Mediterranean crops have not yet been fully identified. The high cost of HTPP infrastructures is a major limiting factor, though the limited availability of skilled personnel may also impair its implementation in Mediterranean countries. We propose that the lack of suitable phenotyping infrastructures is hindering the development of new Mediterranean agricultural varieties and will negatively affect future competitiveness of the agricultural sector. We provide an overview of the heterogeneous panorama of phenotyping within Mediterranean countries, describing the state of the art of agricultural production, breeding initiatives, and phenotyping capabilities in five countries: Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. We characterize some of the main impediments for development of plant phenotyping in those countries and identify strategies to overcome barriers and maximize the benefits of phenotyping and modeling approaches to Mediterranean agriculture and related sustainabilityinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SCADA and related technologies

Presented at SCADA and related technologies for irrigation district modernization, II: a USCID water management conference held on June 6-9, 2007 in Denver, Colorado.Northern Water (Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District) conducted field demonstrations and comparisons of flow monitoring equipment at 18 canal and ditch sites in the lower South Platter River Basin during the 2006 irrigation season. Equipment included data loggers from 8 different manufacturers, 16 different models of water level sensors from 12 manufacturers, and 4 different types of telemetry from 7 manufacturers. The data loggers that were demonstrated included four models of single-sensor with integrated data logger, four models of programmable multi-sensor data logger, and one model of basic, low-cost data logger without telemetry. Relative equipment costs for each data logger system are summarized in Table 6. The water level sensors tested included submersible pressure transducers, optical shaft encoders, ultrasonic distance sensors, bubbler level sensor, float and pulley with potentiometer, buoyancy sensor, and a laser distance sensor. Bench checks of sensor calibrations were accomplished by Northern Water staff before field installation, and again at the end of the irrigation season. Observed sensor accuracy was compared to that expected from manufacturer specifications. The telemetry systems tested in the field included license-free spread-spectrum radios from four manufacturers, licensed radio modems in the 450 MHz range, satellite radio modems to a web server, and cdma modems with static IP addresses. Increased mast height and high gain directional antenna improved radio telemetry as expected. Additionally, operational files were utilized to document telemetry performance when available. The purpose and intent of the equipment demonstration and comparison was not to identify a single best data logger, sensor, and/or telemetry system. Each has different features and strengths, as well as varying costs. For each specific flow monitoring application, different equipment may be preferred or better suited than other equipment. However, the 2006 demonstration and comparison should provide a reference point for those seeking to become more knowledgeable in equipment selection while avoiding unpleasant surprises