Irrigation

Is this true of all the streams in the irrigated country?

Does irrigation water from wells have the same problem?

I'm in the South East and I don't irrigate.(well, it was a dry year and I irrigated the garden. I probably put as much water per stalk of corn as WyoDave did for his corn. Let me tell you, that watering out of a faucet is for the birds. Did have a garden though), Over in the flat coastal plain they will sometimes drill a well and use center pivot irrigation. Sometimes they will pump from a pond or a swamp. I can't see salt buildup there because rainfall over the winter would wash it out. I doubt if the wells will pull the water table down for long because of the winter rains.

KEH

The little amount of Colorado River water that flows across the border into Mexico is so salty it is nearly useless.

Not all irrigated land is affected the same by salinity. In some cases the salinity comes from the water, in other cases the soil itself is very salty.

Thanks for book reference.

KEH

$8500 a month for pumping. Wow!

KEH

We've been irrigating here since 1949 with flood irrigation and pumping since 1954 with the wells.

Only problems are the pilgrims.

With the advent of the center pivot systems, everybody and his brother poked holes in the ground during the 70s thru the 90s and there is a well on almost every quarter section.

Water table is falling like a rock and the the state has now clamped a lid on the amount of water that can be mined. We are now only allowed to take 64" within any four year period.

Darned country will probably end up being all dryland again one day. :>(

Allan

Allan

That is small. Used to run 90 hp motors with the high pressure outfits.

Yes, wells are 8" in diameter and pump up to 1,000 gallon a minute (depending where we set the bowls).

Allan

We don"t have any salt problems at all.

Growing up drinking well water out here spoiled me - most big city water tastes like chlorinated pond water to me.

We pump from about 400 feet with 454 Chevy"s, 855 Cummins, and 800 Minneapolis Molines (for examples) anywhere from 200-2000 gallons per minute depending on how good the well is.

Back when natural gas was $3/mcf, a well might cost $1500 per month to operate. This year with higher gas prices, I know of a guy that paid $8500 for one month for one well. That well watered 1 125 acre circle of corn and 1 125 acre circle of cotton.

When I started out, I had some ditch irrigation, some aluminum pipe irrigation, and some sprinkler. Now sprinkler is really the only cost effective solution in 98% of the cases.

It is pretty arid out here (16-18 inches precip per year), so irrigation is the difference in a 20 bushel dryland wheat crop 3 years out of five versus 200 bushel corn every year (if you work at it).

Our water table is not replenishing near like other areas, though.

Howard

Yep - still doing IT work at the university.

I saw an article the other day about using mesquite for making ethanol. It didn't sound like it was quite ready for prime-time, but if they could do that, seems like saltcedar ought to work, too!

Those would be two good cash crops for a lot of acres out here!

HH

We've got alkali soil most places around here, sometimes have alkali deposits that show up during deep tillage (creamy white "rocks").

I'm in and familiar with SW Idaho / E. Oregon.

Nathaniel