Page 55 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

COST ANALYSIS AND WATER CONSERVATION POTENTIAL OF IRRIGATION
TECHNOLOGIES IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE WATER PLANNING AREA

(TASS, 2008) and Farm Service Agency of USDA (USDA, 2008) data

(Marek et al., 2009). Estimates of water usage by irrigated crops were
calculated by determining the optimal water use level via the North

Plains Potential Evapotranspiration (NPPET) Network (Amosson et al.,
1999, Marek et al., 2000). The current distribution of irrigated acres

under each system was used as the base from which potential water

savings are estimated.
It is assumed in Scenario I that the crop distribution is the same for

each system, i.e., if 25 percent of the acreage is under furrow irrigation
then 25 percent of the irrigated corn, cotton, hay, pasture, peanuts,

sorghum, soybeans and wheat utilized furrow irrigation. This scenario set

the upper bound on what the potential water savings could be. It is
assumed in Scenario II that the amount of water pumped through the

irrigation systems is the same as the percentage of acreage under that
system. Therefore, if 25 percent of the acreage is under furrow irrigation

then 25 percent of irrigated water use is through furrow irrigation. This
implies that the crop mix under each system adjusts to the application

efficiency, i.e., a greater proportion of the high water use crops such as

corn are grown under the more application efficient pivot systems than are
under furrow. This scenario is used to estimate the lower end of the

potential water savings. In reality, potential water saving from adoption of
more efficient irrigation systems is between Scenario I and Scenario II.

The acres irrigated with conventional furrow in each county of
Region A are distributed among crops assuming a constant crop mix.

These crop acres are multiplied by acre-inches of water saved when

shifting furrow irrigated acres to LESA. The product is converted into
acre-feet by dividing it with 12.

55