Elephant Butte Irrigation District

Presented during the Third international conference on irrigation and drainage held March 30 - April 2, 2005 in San Diego, California. The theme of the conference was "Water district management and governance."Includes bibliographical references.Relationships between farm size, irrigation practices, and on-farm irrigation efficiency in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, New Mexico, U.S.A. are explored using water delivery data supplied by the District. The study area is experiencing rapid population growth, development, and competition for existing water supplies. Analysis of pecan and alfalfa water delivery data, fieldwork, and interviews with irrigators found extremely long irrigation durations, inefficient irrigation practices, inadequate on-farm infrastructure, and little interest in making improvements to the current irrigation system or methods on the smallest farms. These findings are attributed to the nature of residential, lifestyle, or retirement agriculture. Irrigation practices on large farms are notably different from small farms: irrigation durations are shorter, less water is applied, producers are commercially oriented, and have high levels of on-farm efficiency. Many small producers appear to view irrigation as a consumptive, recreational, social, or lifestyle activity, rather than an income generating pursuit. Small farm operators are likely to show limited interest in improving on-farm irrigation infrastructure, adopting management intensive irrigation technologies or practices, or making significant irrigation investments. Easement and common property disputes over ditch maintenance between owners of small parcels also create disincentives for infrastructure improvements.Sponsored by USCID; co-sponsored by Association of California Water Agencies and International Network for Participatory Irrigation Management

Changing face of western irrigated agriculture: structure, water management, and policy implications, The

Presented during the Third international conference on irrigation and drainage held March 30 - April 2, 2005 in San Diego, California. The theme of the conference was "Water district management and governance."Includes bibliographical references.The structure of U.S. agriculture is dualistic and likely to become more so in the future. A small percentage of farms produce the majority of output, and almost three-fourths of U.S. farms sell less than $50,000 worth of goods annually. Farms in the lower sales categories tend to have chronic negative net farm incomes, and many have no intention of earning a living from agriculture. Much of this residential, lifestyle, or retirement agriculture occurs on the urban fringe and in rural areas just beyond the urban fringe. In the arid western U.S., much of it is located in irrigated river valleys, which are also centers of population and economic activity. New Mexico's Elephant Butte Irrigation District (EBID) is located in one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. The region is experiencing water rights adjudication, rapid population growth, economic diversification, and increased competition for water resources. Recent research in the District found large differences in irrigation practices, efficiencies, and on-farm infrastructure relative to farm size. The small, residential, lifestyle, or retirement farms are notably different from the larger, commercially oriented farms. Many small producers view irrigation as a recreational, social, or lifestyle activity, rather than an income generating pursuit. The small farms have limited on-farm infrastructure, low irrigation efficiencies, and little interest in making irrigation improvements. Large, commercially oriented farms have high levels of on-farm irrigation efficiency due to deficit irrigation practices and investments in infrastructure. The Elephant Butte research led to questions about changes in agricultural structure, water management, and water resource policy implications in other western U.S. irrigated districts. We hypothesized that the trends in agricultural structure found in the EBID would appear in other irrigated areas in the West. Analysis of limited U.S. Census of Agriculture data for a sample of western counties supports this hypothesis for some regions. The water policy implications of the findings are discussed.Sponsored by USCID; co-sponsored by Association of California Water Agencies and International Network for Participatory Irrigation Management

Optimal Operation and Sustainability of the Multiple Reservoir System in the Yaqui Valley in Sonora, Mexico [abstract]

2 pages

Optimal Operation and Sustainability of the Multiple Reservoir System in the Yaqui Valley in Sonora, Mexico [abstract]

2 pages

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Pecan is a major crop in Lower Rio Grande Basin. Currently there exist about 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) of pecan orchards at various stages of growth which consumes about 40 percent of irrigation water in the area. Crop evapotranspiration (ET) varies with age, soil type and method of management. The ET variation and lack of information on optimum crop ET result in significant variation in productivity and income. In order to maximize the returns from limited water resources, there is a need for a better understanding of pecan optimum ET. ET was measured using three eddy covariance flux towers, which were installed in selected fields in the irrigated area. This paper describes a process where remotely sensed data from ASTER were combined with ground level information to estimate pecan ET and crop coefficient (Kc) throughout the area. The measured cumulative annual pecan ET were determined as 1470 mm (4.82 ft) compared to a predicted value of 1415 mm (4.68 ft) using the remote sensing model. Regression summary for measured ET as depended variable resulted in Standard Error of Estimate (SEE) of 0.86 mm/day and adjusted R2 of 0.9045 for 363 days of measured data

Topobathymetric 3D model reconstruction of shallow water bodies through remote sensing, GPS, and bathymetry

Since there are no mathematical models that can calculate the Laguna de Bustillos’ water storage levels, water balance requires this data to understand the connectivity between this water body and the Cuauhtemoc aquifer. This article presents a new three-dimensional reconstruction technique based on a time series of multispectral remote sensing images, bathymetry, a topographic survey with high precision GPS, and regional contours. With the images of Landsat ETM+/OLI and Sentinel 2A from 2012 to 2013, 2016, and 2017, the contours of the water surface were extracted using the MNDWI and were associated with an elevation received from GPS. An Autonomous Surface Vehicle was also used to obtain the bathymetry of the lake. A topographic survey was carried out using GPS in populated areas, and the contour lines extracted from the INEGI Continuous Elevations Model 3.0. A DEM was constructed using ArcGIS 10.5.1, and surfaces and volumes were calculated at different elevations and compared with 16 Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI multispectral images from 1999 to 2018. The results showed that the mean of the average intersection area between the test images and the area extracted from the 3D model is above 90.9% according to the confidence interval, kappa overall accuracy 95.2–99.7%, and a coefficient 89.9–99.3%. This model proved to be very accurate on a regional scale when the water level exceeded 1971.32 meters above mean sea level and useful to evaluate and administer water resources

Low-cost water measuring device

Guide containing basic instructions for constructing circular flumes for water measurement in different size channels

Supplemental irrigation system design

Presented at Planning for water shortages: water reallocations and transfers drought management: proceedings from the 1989 regional meetings held on August 24-25, 1989 in Boise, Idaho and on October 19-21, 1989 in St. Louis, Missouri.Includes bibliograpIn the dry season when the rainfall contribution to crop water requirement is not significant, the amount of land to be irrigated for maximum profit with a limited supply of water, can be easily calculated. However, in the rainy season when rainfall contributes a significant amount of the crop water requirement, the amount of land which can be irrigated by a supplemental irrigation system varies due to spatial variability of rainfall. In designing a supplemental irrigation system the long term variability of rainfall as well as economical parameters should be taken into account. This paper describes a methodology for designing a supplemental irrigation system and for calculating the optimum amount of land which should be irrigated with a limited supply of water. The optimum amount of land to be irrigated is calculated for one station in EI Salvador using crop yield models, long-term climatological data and economical parameters. since the day to day climatological data are not often available in many countries, the paper describes how a climatological data-base together with a weather generating model can be used to design a supplemental irrigation system