conservation [streams of life]

Streams of Life: Water in the American West

Conservation

Sprinklers that spray downward can be used to cut back on evaporation by using sprinklers in large fields. This uses only one-third of the water used by regular systems. It is better than furrows, or ditches, because it is cheaper, faster, and saves soil. Sprinklers save from two to five acre-feet of water per acre.

Other methods of conservation include the following:

Eliminating canal leaks, which account for 25% of diversion.
Scheduling irrigation and switching to sprinklers
Gated ditches and lined pipes
Lining canals is expensive and concrete cracks.
Hydromet, a computerized network of weather stations to allow better irrigation and reservoir task scheduling.
Making water cost more makes farmers want to save.
Drip irrigation, tubing at the roots, has virtually no evaporation and also reduces weeds, which means less herbicide.
Better furrow irrigation by controlling the amount of water flowing in by using surge valves and shorter furrows will save hundreds of gallons per minute on a regular field and save water by 10-40%.
Recycling tailwater faster by using a pond.
Soil Moisture Monitoring so that water can be applied at the right times. The system costs only about two dollars an acre and can save $50 an acre in water.
Saving a gallon is the same as supplying a gallon.
Installing water meters at homes make people more water conscious.
Cash payments to businesses for efficiency.
Reclaiming water from coolant systems and rinse cycles as well as ice factories.
Selecting native or low water plants for gardens.
Changing people's attitudes towards water and saving it not only during droughts.
Recapturing surface runoff.
Using low-flow toilets.

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