Application of Technology to Maximize Water Conservation on Cropland

The Willcox-San Simon Natural Resource Conservation District encompasses 2.1 million acres in northern Cochise and southern Graham Counties of Arizona. The entire area is semi-arid with 80,000 acres of cropland (65,000 currently in production) that relies on deep underlying aquifers for irrigation. Dramatic deepening of wells in the 1970’s, land subsidence and drying of the aquifer under the Kansas Settlement region of the District led to the abandonment of nearly 20,000 acres of cropland. According to data supplied by the Arizona Department of Water Resources, water users are currently pumping at twice the rate of recharge. In recent years, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has helped producers install more efficient irrigation systems. While over 90% of producers have installed more efficient systems, less than 10% of the producers in the District use monitoring technology and equipment to schedule irrigation and/or coordinate water application to crop needs. Pump operation costs are at $200 per day during the growing season. Many operators are trying various methods to cut costs but don’t have access to adequate information. This results in under watering, over watering, applications that are not timed to meet the crop needs, and reduced yields. With use of monitoring technology, water consumption could be cut by up to 45% without a sacrifice in yield. The purpose of this project is to reduce water consumption by engaging producers to adopt irrigation monitoring and scheduling technology to complement their efficient irrigation systems.