Provides suggestions for ways to conserve irrigation water. Explains how to use the AgriMet crop water use charts. Provides general guidelines for irrigation methods, timing, and soil management.
in a drought, every gallon of water saved
means more crop production. There are many
places in a typical irrigation operation where
water is lost. Here are some prudent management
practices that can conserve water and
possibly make the difference between making
a profit or taking a loss.
Note: These...
When water is plentiful, growers usually schedule irrigation practices around other farming activities. For example, most growers change furrow irrigation sets at 12- or 24-hour intervals because this timing is convenient and uses labor efficiently. When water is in short supply, you need to rethink some practices to obtain maximum...
Published December 1954. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
In a drought, every gallon of water saved means more crop production. There are many places in a typical irrigation operation where water is lost. Here are some prudent management practices that can conserve water and possibly make the difference between making a profit or taking a loss.
Note: These...
Drought and mandatory water restrictions are limiting the availability of irrigation water in many important blueberry growing regions and new strategies are needed to maintain yield and fruit quality with less water. Three potential options for reducing water use, including deficit irrigation, irrigation cut-offs, and crop thinning, were evaluated for...
Reprinted July 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Revised August 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Reprinted June 1990. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Reprinted June 1990. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Revised August 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Most irrigation water in Oregon is of excellent quality. Occasionally a deep well yields water that is too salty for irrigation, or contains constituents that are detrimental to plants or soils. Water can be of poor quality for irrigation because of the amount of impurity (salt) it contains or the...
The Wood River Basin lies upstream of Upper Klamath Lake, the main reservoir of the USBR Klamath Irrigation Project that provides irrigation water to 210,000 acres of downstream land. Water allocation became a contentious issue in 2001 when drought led to curtailment of irrigation deliveries to the Klamath Irrigation Project...
Published October 1988. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
This publication focuses on using water analyses to choose appropriate water treatment and water management practices for irrigated agriculture. It will help determine:
• What tests are needed to characterize water quality
• How to collect water samples
• How to interpret analytical data from a laboratory
• How to...
Since publication of the Oregon State University–University of California report on Klamath Basin water allocation,1 the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) and Klamath Water Users Association (KWUA) initiated a pilot project to
compensate growers who agree to withhold irrigation from 12,000 acres of Project lands. This “Pilot Water Bank,” in place...
Published July 1965. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Published April 1955. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Published November 1987. Reprinted July 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Published March 1977. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Reprinted July 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Landscapes are a valuable part of residential properties. Maintaining your landscape is important for
property values as well as aesthetic reasons. When water supplies are restricted, you can keep your
landscape healthy by developing watering priorities, applying water efficiently, and modifying your
maintenance practices.
Several methods of infering plant water stress for
irrigation scheduling are based upon measurements of the
environment in which the plants grow. These measurements
include parameters such as soil water content, air
temperature, pan evaporation and incident radiation. It is
hypothesized that improved estimates of plant water deficit
can be...
The Reclamation Act of 1902, as amended, is the basic
legislation governing the distribution of water from federal
projects for irrigation purposes. In the three-quarters
of a century since the passage of this Act, technological,
economic, and legal developments have forced a reappraisal
of the original intent of the Reclamation...
The opportunities for expanding water supplies in Oregon coastal municipalities are becoming increasingly limited. New water quantity and quality regulations, particularly those designed to protect and rebuild salmon runs, constrain water supply options. At the same time, however, demand for water is increasing. Coastal communities continue to grow in population...
Published March 1968. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Increasing water demand for growing municipalities, for water-based recreation
and for fishery and wildlife habitat has intensified pressure on the existing resource. Reallocation of water from existing uses to other, higher-valued uses is receiving greater attention due to constraints on development of new water supplies. A key to reallocation is...
A water-efficient landscape begins with a plan. If you are familiar with the principles of landscape design, you might want
to draw your own plan. Another option is to hire a professional to help with this critical step. In any
event, think about who will use your landscape (adults, children,...
Irrigated agriculture constitutes the greatest consumptive water use globally, so that irrigation efficiency measures are an important part of global efforts to best utilize this limited resource. However, greater irrigation efficiency must be achieved while simultaneously maintaining or increasing crop yields and farming profitability. Incremental water use decisions are made...
Foodborne outbreaks involving fresh produce have been on the rise since the late 1990's. Pathogens such as Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli are prevalent in agricultural environments and commonly travel between farms via irrigation water. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has placed an increased emphasis on microbiological standards of...
The Periyar-Vaigai project is one of the important water
resource developments in South India, designed and constructed in
part during the last decade of the nineteenth century, to accelerate
the growth of the economy of Madras state. A noteworthy feature
of this project is that the waters of the westward...
Estimations of plant water use can provide great assistance to growers, irrigators,
engineers and water resource planners. This is especially true concerning the introduction
of a new crop into irrigated agriculture. Growing hybrid poplar trees for wood chip stock
and veneer production under agronomic practices is currently being explored as...
This study was prompted by the need for improving the efficiency of irrigation systems at the Oregon South coastal areas. Accurate information about evapotranspiration (ET) rates is essential for maximizing the efficiency of irrigation systems. Currently, ET estimates provided by Bureau of Reclamation AgriMet Program are derived from the Kimberly...
In order to understand the economics of the 2001 irrigation curtailment in the Upper Klamath Basin, and the prospects for lower-cost solutions
to future irrigation shortfalls, one must appreciate just how much the economic value of irrigation water varies from one piece of land to
another throughout the Upper Basin....
The middle Deschutes River between Bend, Oregon and Lake Billy Chinook typically experiences critically low flows during the irrigation season. Commercial agriculture in the North Unit Irrigation District and Central Oregon Irrigation District is one major user of Deschutes River water. The overall objective of this research was to estimate...
Published February 1942. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Published April 1995. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Revised June 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Provides consumptive use and net irrigation requirements for economically important crops in 27 climatic regions in Oregon. Computations are based on the modified Blaney-Criddle calculation method and climatic database information. Contains tables of: 1) The typical growing seasons of selected Oregon crops by region and 2) Crop water (ETcrop) and...
Agricultural water supplies are becoming increasingly uncertain in the western United States due to elevated demands from competing water users, environmental restrictions on surface water withdrawals as a result of the establishment of the Endangered Species Act in 1973, and potential climatic changes. Since many rural communities in the West...
Published September 1965. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Irrigated agriculture accounts for 90 percent of consumptive use of freshwater in the western US and is considered the largest contributor to nonpoint source water pollution. The diffuse nature of most water quality and quantity challenges necessitates institutions that can more effectively engage agricultural producers in strategic, integrated, watershed-scale approaches...