Quantitative Assessments of Water for Cropping Systems in the Lower Colorado River Region

In 2015, the Yuma County Agriculture Water Coalition (YCAWC) released a report titled “A Case Study in Efficiency - Agriculture and Water Use in the Yuma, Arizona Area.” The YCAWC is a coalition of water delivery jurisdictions near Yuma. Members include seven irrigation water delivery entities: North Gila Irrigation and Drainage District (NGIDD), Yuma Irrigation District (YID), Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District (YMIDD), Unit B Irrigation and Drainage District (Unit B), Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (WMIDD), Yuma County Water Users’ Association (YCWUA), and Bard Water District (BWD) - see map on page 48.

The 2015 case study included contributions from the seven irrigation water delivery entities in Yuma County, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and the University of Arizona (UArizona). The existing status of the irrigation conveyance system and changes in cropping systems and agricultural water management practices over the past five decades were summarized. While the report highlighted the resulting enhanced water use efficiencies at the district and farm level, it also identified the need for additional research.

The additional information needed included updated crop water consumptive use and more quantitative data on the beneficial use of water for salt management. In an effort to address these additional research areas, and to identify potential strategies for further agricultural water management improvements, the YCAWC supplied seed funding commitments in 2016 to the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA).

YCEDA is a public-private partnership whereby the desert agriculture industry supports research efforts to proactively address their pressing problems. These funds were used to support research conducted by scientists at UArizona and the Arid Land Agricultural Research Center (ALARC), a USDA-ARS facility. It was hoped that YCEDA, UArizona, and ALARC would in turn seek additional funding partners to augment funds provided by the YCAWC. That was successfully accomplished on a significant scale. Partners included the USBR, two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) organizations - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA GSFC), the USDA/Arizona Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, Cotton Incorporated, the Arizona Iceberg Lettuce Research Council, the Arizona Grain Research and Promotion Council, the Arizona Citrus Research Council, and several in-house funding programs within the UArizona and USDA-ARS ALARC.

Paul Brierley and his team at YCEDA provided project support and coordination among multiple funding partners and the scientific team. Dr. Charles Sanchez of the UArizona and Dr. Andrew French of 3 Foreword 5 USDA-ARS ALARC led the scientific team participating in this project. Their team included scientific personnel recruited for this project, such as postdoctoral research associates and research technicians. It also included cooperating scientists within the UArizona, USDA-ARS ALARC, the USDA-ARS United States Salinity Laboratory (USDA-ARS USSL), the University of California, Riverside, and NASA.

In addition to summarizing consumptive crop water use and quantifying the beneficial applications of water for salt management, this report helps address needs by our funding partners. The USBR, our largest contributor, requires updated crop coefficients for their Lower Colorado River Accounting System (LCRAS). Evapotranspiration (ET) observations obtained from this study will help them update those coefficients. Other contributors, including commodity groups, the USDA/Arizona Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, USBR, and NASA, wished to improve irrigation science and remote sensing technologies. This report introduces advances to these and provides scientific findings important for the deployment for an irrigation and soil management app, DesertAgWISE.

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Taxonomy

• Agriculture
• Sustainable Agriculture
• Agriculture