Volume 7 Issue 4
April 2016
Balancing a Balloon on a Pin: Talking Water Conservation With
C.E. Williams of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District
The Groundwater Issue
By Kris Polly
T
his issue of Irrigation Leader focuses on groundwater: how it is managed in different states as well
as some innovative programs and technologies for its conservation. Mr. C.E. Williams, general
manager of the Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District in Texas, tells us about his district’s
efforts to manage and sustain its supplies for as long as possible. “You need to get your conservation
programs implemented and moving forward. Time is clicking and working against you,” is his advice to other
groundwater managers. Mr. Lyndon Vogt, general manager of the Central Platte Natural Resources District
in Nebraska, discusses his district’s efforts to develop a market for leasing groundwater. This electronic market
is an interesting experiment because it only allows buyers and sellers that are already certified for groundwater
use within the district’s boundaries to participate. Mr. Paul Jewell, commissioner of District 1 in Kittitas
County, Washington, shares the history and development of a different water market and banking system in
the Yakima River basin. General Manager Tim Boese of the Equus Bed Groundwater Management District
No. 2 in Kansas describes his district’s unique situation. Finally, Mr. Randy Ray, general manager of the
Central Colorado Water Conservancy District, has some of the best advice for any water professional, “Open
communication. You have to be able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Don’t take for granted what
you think the other person’s needs are. If you know what they need, a lot of times you can come up with some
resolution.”
Regarding technology, I urge you to read about Dragon-Line, which combines the two most efficient
advances in irrigation technology, center pivot and drip line. This is one of the more innovative technologies in
recent years, with the potential for dramatic groundwater conservation.
Kris Polly is editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and president of Water Strategies LLC, a government
relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural
entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may
be contacted at [email protected].
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2
Irrigation Leader
APRIL 2016
C O N T E N T S
2 The Groundwater Issue
By Kris Polly
VOLUME 7
ISSUE 4
Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year
with combined issues for July/August and
November/December by
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Washington, DC 20003
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Copyright © 2016 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader
relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural
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the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its
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COVER PHOTO: C.E. Williams,
general manager of the
Panhandle Groundwater
Conservation District.
Irrigation Leader
4 Balancing a Balloon on a Pin:
Talking Water Conservation With
C.E. Williams of the Panhandle
Groundwater Conservation District
10 Virtual Groundwater Leasing: Central
Platte Natural Resources District’s
Groundwater Exchange Program
By Lyndon Vogt
12 Groundwater Banking in Kittitas County
By Paul Jewell
DISTRICT FOCUS
16 Equus Beds Groundwater Management
District No. 2
By Tim Boese
MANAGER'S PROFILE
18 Randy Ray, Central Colorado Water
Conservancy District
INNOVATORS
26 Measurable Water Savings With the
Dragon‑Line Mobile Drip System
30 Bringing Irrigation District Management
to the Cloud
34 Extending the Life of Water Delivery
Systems: Standard Polymers Lining
and Coating Solutions
INTERNATIONAL
36 Talking Irrigation in India With
Justin Harter
39 CLASSIFIEDS
3
Balancing a Balloon on a Pin: Talking
Water Conservation With C.E. Williams of the
Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District
Mr. Williams in front of a PGCD-financed drip system.
T
he Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District
(PGCD) serves all of five and parts of four north
Texas counties, covering 6,309 square miles. PGCD
provides programs and services to conserve, preserve, and
recharge water supplies in the Texas Panhandle.
Agriculture and oil and gas production are the economic
engines of the panhandle region, and wheat, corn, sorghum,
and cotton dominate crop production. Traditionally, farmers
furrow irrigated. In the 1980s, they began to adopt centerpivot
irrigation. Today, pivot irrigation dominates farming in the
region, and drip irrigation is coming into play.
There is a diversity of water use within PGCD: 5 percent
oil and gas, 30 percent municipal and industrial, and
65 percent irrigated agriculture. Water use in the district is
supplied almost exclusively by groundwater from the Ogallala
aquifer and three smaller aquifers. There are also two limited
surface water sources: Lakes Meredith and Greenbelt.
PGCD sets conservation rules for all its water users
and runs programs in line with those rules. Agricultural
water conservation, metering, rainwater harvesting, and
precipitation enhancement programs all contribute to sustaining
the health of the Ogallala aquifer.
C.E. Williams has managed PGCD for 26 years, leading
the district to expand its boundaries and institute necessary
4
conservation practices to help ensure water supplies for future
generations. Prior to joining the district, he farmed in the
panhandle. Irrigation Leader’s editor-in-chief, Kris Polly,
spoke with Mr. Williams about groundwater management at
PGCD and the district’s water conservation efforts.
Kris Polly: How does the district manage groundwater
within its boundaries?
C.E. Williams: We manage groundwater based on
contiguous acres of a particular property. We go by section,
block, and survey. Land description doesn’t change;
ownership changes. It is easier to track water using legal
descriptions rather than ownership.
PGCD adopted this approach back in the mid-1990s
because municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses were
intertwined in Carson County. What you saw in the
irrigated agriculture arena was a couple of wells per section
running 90 to 130 days a year; on the municipal side, they
were running four wells per section pumping 200 days per
year.
We had to change our philosophy from gallons-perminute production to annual production per acre owned
allowable to level the playing field for agricultural and
Irrigation Leader
municipal water users and to implement conservation
measures. Now we allow production rates of 1 acre-foot per
surface-acre owned per continuous boundary annually. Not
only does this encourage conservation, but it also prevents
a rush to the pump.
This helps preserve additional pumping for future use,
which is important to the municipal people. They can
expand those well fields as their population grows. We are
seeing that growth in Lubbock and Amarillo, but like most
places, many of our smaller towns are standing steady or
declining.
We went to this depletion management methodology
to manage the aquifer and achieve conservation. We allow
a 1.25 percent decline per year. If that level is exceeded,
the land is put into a study area for a couple of years. If the
decline continues, we may put the land into a conservation
area where the board may require production reductions
for compliance.
We have had the program in place since 2004; it has
worked well, and we feel it has been time tested. We
have had general acceptance, and we haven’t been to the
courthouse since it was instituted.
Kris Polly: What is your biggest challenge as a
groundwater conservation manager?
C.E. Williams: Groundwater depletion. We are trying
to make it last as long as we can. It has been tough. In
Texas, groundwater is a private property right. You are
balancing all of this like a balloon on a pin: You don’t want
to be too restrictive or you will infringe on those property
rights, but you have to consider the preservation of water
for future generations. Balancing all of that is a real
challenge.
Kris Polly: What other kinds of conservation programs
do you have in place?
C.E. Williams: Our agricultural water conservation
program encourages people through low-interest loans
to move from center-pivot to furrow irrigation or from
center-pivot to drip irrigation. We’ve been doing that for
about 15 years. We obtain money from the Texas Water
Development Board at a low interest rate and pass the
savings on to the individual farmers.
It has been a real success moving those areas from
furrow to sprinkler in a timely manner. Now almost all
the furrow irrigation is under center pivot. You will see
a 30 percent increase in water efficiency and even a little
more when you go from pivot to drip.
Panhandle farmers generally use drip to grow cotton
in the weaker water areas. Cotton is probably the most
efficient converter of water: An acre-foot of water
Irrigation Leader
Mr. Williams with his son and grandson, who farm 6,500 irrigated
acres in Carson County.
generally returns the most product per acre. Drip famers
are having phenomenal yield increases, and I think a lot
of it comes from putting the water subsurface and leaving
the leaves dry. Cotton likes it hot and dry. Our farmers
are consistently getting 4 bales of cotton per acre, whereas
10 years ago, 2 bales per acre was a good yield. It also helps
that the cost of drip is becoming more reasonable.
PGCD also runs a successful metering program. We
cost share meter installation on existing wells and have
required meters on all new wells since 2004. The good,
progressive farmers use that information to know how
much water they have pumped, which helps them make
informed decisions on water use.
There are always a few stragglers who make us more
regulatory than I would care to be. Whether you are doing
speed limits or managing water, those kinds of issues are
always there: You have the rules for the 5 to 10 percent of
noncompliers.
Kris Polly: How does recharge factor into stabilizing
the aquifer?
C.E. Williams: Recharging the Ogallala aquifer
in the Texas Panhandle is tough. We have done some
modifications of playa lakes to encourage recharge. The
Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas
did a study of recharge in the panhandle. At the beginning
of the two-year project, we measured 2/10 of an inch an
acre-foot of recharge, and by the end, we were only able to
bump that number up to 3/10 of an inch. It is just tough.
The sad truth to all this is that it is like a bank account
that you are taking dollar bills out of and putting pennies
back in. There is an end to the road, and we all know it.
Kris Polly: Why is recharge so difficult in your area?
C.E. Williams: I think a lot of it has to do with soil
texture and depth to water. Our depth to water in some
5
places is up to 350 feet or more, although we do have
spots that are a lot less. It takes a lot of time for water to
percolate down. If you had asked me before we did that
study where we got the most recharge from, I would have
thought it was the grasslands. However, grass soaks up the
moisture before it gets past the roots, and in this part of
the world, the irrigated crops take up as much moisture
as you can give them. The study showed that most of the
recharge happens on fallow dryland fields.
Kris Polly: So recharge is not really a viable option to
address groundwater declines over the long term?
C.E. Williams: It’s just not. We’ve drilled recharge
wells, but the turbidity in the water seals them up. They’ll
take water for a little while, but it’s not very long before
you run into problems with the injection wells sealing off.
Kris Polly: What role does reuse play in the region’s
water supplies?
C.E. Williams: There is some water reuse in the city of
Amarillo: It goes through the city’s system and wastewater
treatment plant, to the cooling towers at the power plant,
and then is used for a third time to water salt-tolerant
grass. They are getting three uses out of that water, but its
origin is also mostly groundwater.
Municipal water is currently about 25 percent lake
water blend from Lake Meredith. At one point, it was all
surface water, and then the conjunctive use project initially
had a blend of about 60 or 70 percent surface water to
groundwater. However, due to drought and other factors,
we have not been able to supply that much surface water.
At the height of the drought, it was all groundwater.
Kris Polly: Have there been any efforts to bring in
additional surface water supplies to the region?
C.E. Williams: Back in the 1960s, they tried to pass
a Mississippi River water importation bill. It failed, but it
almost passed. I wish it had passed, because today I don’t
think a project of that scale could get through all the
environmental hoops, much less overcome the cost.
Kris Polly: Where would you like to see the district in
10 years?
C.E. Williams: The one thing that I personally would
like to see more than anything else is moving the yardstick
on the value of agriculture water production to production
per acre-foot of water used rather than production per acre.
In this area, water is your limiting factor. We ought to be
6
looking at how much water it takes to produce a particular
product. Once we make that paradigm shift, we will better
understand what we need to do to make adjustments going
forward and make the best use of our water.
We are starting to get good information on that now.
We’ve done some on-farm studies on crop production
and water use, and I think the scale is starting to change.
Production per acre has been the norm, but your limiting
factor ought to be the scale to look at. If land were limited,
production per acre would be the right way; however, that
is not issue here.
Economics drives agriculture. We saw significant
agricultural expansion from 2008 to 2013 because of high
commodity prices as well as corresponding increases in
water use. That has slowed a lot because of the decline in
commodity prices.
Kris Polly: What advice do you have for other district
managers about managing limited groundwater resources?
C.E. Williams: You need to get your conservation
programs implemented and moving forward. Time is
clicking on and working against you.
I grew up on a farm here in Carson County, and my
granddad drilled the third irrigation well in the county
back in the early 1950s. There have been some areas
that were once irrigated that have come out of irrigation
production now. The drop off of irrigated agriculture has
been significant at different points in time. We had a big
one in the late 1980s, which again was mostly price driven.
First-hand knowledge of what goes on the farm has
really served me well here. I understand how the farmers
think, because I was one of them for several years. That has
helped me to understand the farmers’ train of thought and
how to make this all work for everyone.
You have to be able to communicate with your
constituents. There has to be a certain amount of trust
among all the water users and the district. Before I got
here, there was quite a bit of animosity between the city
people and the rural people. We have tried to balance it
for everyone since I have been here. It has been a real
challenge, but in my opinion, we have accomplished it in
most instances.
Back in 1990, when I came into the district, it was a
glorified single-county district. As time went on, people
saw the need for conservation, and we expanded. By
talking to people it became apparent to me that you had
to get your county leaders and city leaders on board to
understand what you are doing. They are the ones who
local people look to for leadership on these types of issues.
We spent a lot of time explaining to those people what the
district was doing, and as a result, the district grew.
Irrigation Leader
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Virtual Groundwater Leasing:
Central Platte Natural Resources District’s
Groundwater Exchange Program
By Lyndon Vogt
A
t the end of March, the Central Platte Natural
Resources District (CPNRD) facilitated the
creation of a new market for leased groundwater
for irrigation. For a five-day period in March, CPNRD’s
Groundwater Exchange Program enabled producers to
temporarily lease groundwater use certified by the district
to willing buyers on a web-based marketplace.
The goal of the program is to promote water efficiency.
Our producers are always looking to maximize how and
when they use their water. The program put together
those farmers who have an abundance of groundwater for
the upcoming year with those seeking to maximize their
growing potential but are in need of extra supply.
CPNRD cannot add an additional consumptive
use on the Platte River or have a negative effect on its
flow. So the program includes the potential benefit of
augmenting Platte River flows. The Platte River Recovery
Implementation Program is a verified buyer and can
purchase additional stream flows for the river.
The CPNRD board of directors voted to develop
the program in September 2015. The board saw it as an
opportunity to put water to its most beneficial use and
to let the market decide the value of water, whether for
irrigation or instream flow.
With the help of the Nebraska Department of
Natural Resources and NERA Economic Consulting,
CPNRD developed an algorithm to best match buyers
and sellers based on information—price, the location of
water, and depletion to the river—provided by the market
participants.
Rules of the Road
For the purposes of the program, a seller is anyone
with a certified groundwater use on irrigated acres within
CPNRD, and a buyer is anyone seeking to augment
already-certified groundwater use or to increase stream
flow for the 2016 irrigation season. For this first year of
the program, we capped the number of participants at 50.
A month before the opening of the market, CPNRD
preapproved all the potential buyers and sellers by
verifying the water rights to be sold or bought. The
district also provided the market participants with an
identification number for the bidding process. After the
preapproval process, the district held a training session
so market participants could learn about how the market
would actually work and practice how to bid.
10
The bid window opened on March 21 and closed
March 25. During that time, verified buyers and sellers
submitted their bids. Each bid was tied to a specific location.
Bidders entered their desired dollar per acre for that location.
The bid is valid and binding for 45 days after the close of the
bid window.
CPNRD facilitates market payments. It pays successful
sellers by check 30 days after the producer receives notification
that its bid was a winning bid, or once approval for the
payment from the board is obtained, whichever comes first.
Successful buyers must pay CPNRD by check no later than
15 calendar days after the producer receives notification that
its bid is a winning bid.
Results
CPNRD issued bid identification numbers for 40 different
sections of land. Six buyers came to the virtual market, three
looking for irrigation water and three for instream flow. It was
a buyer’s market. While we are still assessing the merits of the
market, we do know that producers appear to be willing to
bring water to the exchange and that the algorithm to match
willing sellers and buyers works within our rules. The board
will decide whether to try another run at it in November.
Lyndon Vogt is the general manager of the
Central Platte Natural Resources District.
You can reach him at [email protected].
For more information on the Groundwater
Exchange Program, visit http://cpnrd.org/
groundwater-exchange-program/.
Irrigation Leader
Groundwater
Banking in Kittitas
County
By Paul Jewell
R
apid population growth
and limited water
supplies have produced
an innovative and practical
solution to depleted groundwater
supplies in Kittitas County in
central Washington State.
Kittitas County is home of
the headwaters of the Yakima
River basin, which is one of the
only adjudicated basins in all
of Washington State. Irrigation
has been a part of the basin for
more than a century. Today, the
county is home to more than
40,000 residents and is one of
the fastest-growing counties in
Washington. By the mid-2000s,
developers began subdividing large A scene along the Teanaway River, which flows into the Yakima River near Cle Elum.
plots of land, leading to lawsuits and
State Department of Commerce sued the county over the
increased contention over water.
plan, alleging, among other things, that the county failed
Litigation in an Overappropriated Basin
Under Washington State’s groundwater code,
certain uses are exempt from groundwater permitting
requirements, including an unlimited amount of water for
stock, irrigation water for up to ½ acre of noncommercial
lawn or garden, industrial use of up to 5,000 gallons per
day, and domestic use of up to 5,000 gallons per day.
Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, developers were
dividing large parcels in the unincorporated areas of the
county into smaller parcels and, in turn, dividing those
smaller parcels even further to build lots. In many cases,
developers would designate small subsets of a larger
project as individual limited liability companies and daisy
chain them together, thereby capturing all the adjoining
small lots within the bounds of the permitting exemption.
In the 2002 case, Department of Ecology v. Campbell
& Gwinn, LLC, the state supreme court held that the
domestic use exemption applied to the total groundwater
use of residential development regardless of the number of
lots.
In 2006, Kittitas County revised its comprehensive
plan. Several citizen advocacy groups and the Washington
12
to protect its groundwater resources as required by the
state’s Growth Management Act. In Kittitas County v.
Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board
[EWGMHB], the state supreme court eventually ruled in
favor of the advocacy groups.
Shortly thereafter, a new advocacy group, Aqua
Permanente, which included members from the groups
who sued the county under the Growth Management Act,
filed a petition with the Department of Ecology (Ecology)
to withdraw all groundwater in Kittitas County from
further appropriation. Ecology was required by law to and
entered into negotiations with the county.
Unfortunately, the negotiations were unsuccessful,
and Ecology adopted a withdrawal rule in roughly half
of the county on July 17, 2009. The results of the rule
were immediate. Nearly half the county was prohibited
from drilling a new well and using groundwater. The
value of impacted property dropped 50 percent, and the
county’s taxable land value base decreased by more than
$30 million.
The rule, however, did provide for the use of
groundwater if that use was mitigated in time and in place
Irrigation Leader
A map of the county provided by Kittitas County.
with a senior water right. Unfortunately, at the time the
rule was imposed there was no reasonable method for
most landowners to obtain appropriate in‑place mitigation
to meet the requirements.
At the time all of this was taking place, the U.S.
Geological Survey was conducting a study of the
interaction of surface water and groundwater in the
Yakima River basin. The study was required by a
settlement agreement between Ecology and the Yakima
Nation, which had sued Ecology over the issuance of new
groundwater permits in the basin in the 1990s. Ecology
had agreed to stop issuing permits and funded a study,
published in summer 2012, that showed, in many cases,
direct continuity between the basin’s groundwater and
surface water resources.
It was a perfect storm.
These were the circumstances under which water banks
in Kittitas County were born.
From the Private Markets . . .
The county didn’t jump into the water business right
away. It tried several different maneuvers to get the rule
lifted—all without success. However, about a year after
the state imposed the withdrawal rule, Ecology authorized
and facilitated the development of a water bank that was
sponsored by the Suncadia Resort—a master plan resort
right in the heart of where the withdrawal occurred. In
accordance with its development requirements, Suncadia
acquired enough water rights not only for its own use, but
also for the development induced by the project. So, the
resort had a pool of water in excess of what was needed
Irrigation Leader
for full build‑out.
Through Ecology’s water rights trust
program, Suncadia put its excess water in trust,
keeping it in-stream. In turn, developers who
purchased mitigation water from Suncadia
could drill wells that were in continuity with
the river based on historic point of diversion
and quantity of water purchased. They were
able to offset their withdrawals with a portion
Suncadia’s water rights.
Kittitas County monitored and assisted
with the creation of the water bank, but saw
problems with it. First of all, the county was
dealing with clear cases of monopoly. The area
of the county where the rule was imposed
has over 130 distinct watersheds. In most
cases, especially at the outset, there was only
a single provider of mitigation available in a
watershed. Landowners had no choice but to
pay whatever that water bank demanded, and
we began to see a wide variance in pricing even
though mitigation packages themselves were
nearly identical.
A developer in one river valley sought to acquire
sufficient water rights to develop a large subdivision in
a floodplain. The county denied its application, so the
developer created a water bank with the water rights it
had acquired for the project. The new bank, which was the
only bank serving that area, set the rate for domestic water
consumption at $15,000 per house—more than twice
the highest rate in other areas of the county at the time.
Fortunately, another bank started on the same river and
set its price at $4,000, causing a concomitant drop in price.
However, this result has not happened in other areas.
We also became aware of a pricing disparity between
clients of the very same water bank. In response, we
advocated for state regulations—to treat the water bank
like a utility—but we were not successful. Our belief
was, and remains, that water is a necessary component of
public health, safety, and welfare and should not become
a commodity that ultimately lands in the hands of the
highest bidder. It is without a doubt a moral and ethical
question when what is being considered is simple domestic
use of water for basic hygiene, human consumption, and
other in-home use.
Land development corporations owned most of the
early water banks. As such, we were also concerned that
the decisionmaking authority of elected officials would
be superseded in cases where the county approved a
competing land development but the water bank did
not approve the issuance of mitigation water to support
the development. It is as if the water bank, an unelected
13
private interest, would have de facto authority over land
use actions in the county even where a clear conflict of
interest existed.
. . . to the Public Ones
As the county watched this unfold, we decided that it
was in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare
of our residents to get involved. Kittitas County began the
process of creating its own water bank to operate at cost
recovery. The county worked in conjunction with Ecology
and the very same citizen advocacy groups that sued us in
Kittitas v. EWGMHB.
Prior to that case, many local governments in
Washington State felt that water regulation was Ecology’s
responsibility and that local governments lacked sufficient
authority to regulate water. The ruling in Kittitas v.
EWGMHB changed that.
The court ruled that the Groundwater Management
Act requires counties to provide for the protection of the
ground and surface resources within in their bounds. As
part of the 2014 settlement agreement that came out of
Kittitas v. EWGMHB, Ecology agreed to assist the county
with its own municipally owned and operated water
bank—the first in Washington State.
Immediately after signing the settlement agreement,
the county purchased four existing water banks. The
county is now offering and selling mitigation through the
water banks it acquired.
What We Are Selling
Under the advisement of a citizen board formed during
the formation of the water bank, and understanding the
sensitivities surrounding private and public competition,
the county settled on the sale of two water mitigation
packages: (1) where outdoor irrigation water is available,
275 gallons per day for in‑home use, and (2) where
outdoor irrigation water is not available, 275 gallons
per day for indoor use and enough water for use up to
500 square feet of lawn or garden. If a homeowner wants
more, the only option is to buy mitigation water from one
of the private mitigation banks.
There are limitations. The county water bank does not
sell mitigation water for new land development or new
parcel creation. It will only sell water if the developer is
applying for a building permit.
The county only considers the public health, safety,
and welfare in its banking decision; it has left other areas
of the marketplace open to those private developers and
water banks.
Benefit to Irrigators
Irrigation districts throughout the Yakima River
14
basin are junior surface water rights holders. During a
drought, those districts have their surface water allocations
curtailed; yet, domestic water users can continue to pump
groundwater.
The county water bank ensures that every new water
user has a senior water right that is counted as part of the
allocation and does not impact the junior rights‑holding
irrigation districts. The county not only requires new
groundwater users to purchase mitigation water before
they start pumping, but it also acquires water to offset the
new consumptive use to keep irrigators whole.
Keeping irrigators whole does lead to one of our big
worries: a call by one of the large junior irrigators on
junior domestic groundwater users. We saw that exact
scenario back in the early 2000s when Roza Irrigation
District made a call on the town of Roslyn. During the
drought, the town was pumping groundwater for its
municipal supply. However, the city’s right was junior
to Roza’s. Since Roza’s allocation was curtailed, it sued,
and the court ordered Roslyn to stop using its water.
Fortunately, Suncadia leased some of its water to the town
to prevent a catastrophe.
The event sent a clear message that domestic pumpers
were at risk. The county water bank shaped how it sells
mitigation with that very scenario in mind.
Looking Ahead
The county continues to work on the water banking
process. We are streamlining it and making it faster and
cheaper for our residents. That is really our goal. We want
the water to go as far as possible to the most people at the
cheapest price, so we can manage our resource efficiently
and make it as accessible as possible for all income
brackets.
In some instances, we are processing and issuing
mitigation water faster and cheaper than the private banks.
We recently executed a purchase and sale agreement to
acquire another 600 acre-feet of consumptive use water.
That will actually fulfill more than 50 percent of what
we estimate is the need to offset the consumptive use of
current users, providing those users with some protection
from potential curtailment as well. It also more than
doubles our portfolio for new uses
and extends our development window
out, based on our current estimates,
40 years or longer. We are truly looking
long term.
Paul Jewell is Kittitas County
Commissioner, District 1.
You can reach Mr. Jewell at
[email protected].
Irrigation Leader
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District Focus
16
Equus Beds Groundwater
Management District No. 2
ecause of the Ogallala aquifer, most people
know of the challenges and travails of irrigated
agriculture in western Kansas. However, what
they do not realize is that the state varies widely in both
hydrology and climate. Kansas’s groundwater management
districts reflect that diversity.
Equus Beds Groundwater Management District
No. 2 is located on the eastern edge of the High Plains
aquifer—we are not considered to be part of the Ogallala
aquifer, which is located in western Kansas. By and large,
the Equus Beds aquifer is relatively healthy and not
experiencing significant declines. And while we are not
pumping out fossil water like they are in the western part
of the state, we do experience slight declines in parts of
the aquifer. The recharge rate to the aquifer is higher
than in the western part of the state, and the water table
is much shallower, with some areas having depths of less
than 10 feet to water. The aquifer is the sole source of
fresh water for most water users in south‑central Kansas.
Wichita. While most of the city of Wichita is not located
within the district, its well field is. Wichita’s wells date
back to the 1950s, and the city has mostly senior water
rights totaling 40,000 acre-feet per year from 55 wells.
The city has a 66‑inch pipeline that runs from the well
field to a treatment plant in the city. The city then blends
that with the surface water from Cheney Reservoir, and it
goes into its distribution system.
Irrigators within Equus Beds mainly grow corn and
soybeans, most of which are irrigated by center pivot.
More recently, growers have installed subsurface drip
irrigation. We ran a program from 2010 through 2014
through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s
Agricultural Water Enhancement Program to promote
and provide financial assistance for the conversion of flood
irrigation to center pivot and subsurface drip. The result
was the conversion of more than 7,000 irrigated acres to
more efficient irrigation methods. The soil type and water
quality in the district are fairly favorable for subsurface
drip. We have been pleased with the general move to more
high-efficiency water application.
About the District
The Equus Beds Groundwater Management District
No. 2 is located in south‑central Kansas and serves
agricultural, municipal, and industrial water users across
nearly 900,000 acres. Irrigated agriculture is 60 percent
of our water use on an annual basis, municipal is
25 percent, and industrial is around 15 percent. There
are approximately 2,000 permitted wells in the district:
1,600 for irrigation; 200 for municipal; and the rest for
industrial, stock watering, and recreation. Equus Beds is
charged with the management of the aquifer.
Equus Beds has a very large municipal base compared
with the other groundwater management districts in
Kansas. More than 500,000 people in the district rely on
the aquifer for their drinking water, including the city of
Management Rules of the Road
In Kansas, all water permits are approved by the
Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water
Resources. Every permit sets limits and conditions,
designating use, annual quantity, pumping rate, and place
of use. Metering and water use reporting are required
for all nondomestic wells statewide. Kansas is very much
a leader in that regard. Those data are essential for
groundwater management.
Equus Beds formed in 1975 to manage groundwater
supplies within its boundaries under two fundamental
management principles: (1) safe yield, which limits
groundwater withdraws to annual groundwater recharge,
and (2) groundwater quality, which seeks to maintain
the naturally occurring water quality of the aquifer. To
By Tim Boese
B
Irrigation Leader
that end, the district designates special management areas,
which address challenges such as oil field brine contamination
and water level declines. We look at new permits and change
applications a little differently in those areas.
All water permitting in the district goes through the
groundwater management district to the state. If someone
files an application with the state, it goes to the district for
review. The district makes a recommendation back to the
state for approval, denial, or modification. We make sure the
permit is consistent with our management program, rules, and
regulations. The state agrees with the district 99.9 percent of
the time.
Water Quality
Water quality, not water quantity, is our biggest challenge.
We have oil field brine contamination, nitrate issues, natural
salinity, and some volatile organic compound contamination
from industrial and grain storage activities. Because of the
shallow water table, it is easily contaminated. There are also
legacy issues. Much of the oil field brine is due to bad disposal
practices in the 1930s and 1940s.
Remediation on those contaminants is expensive and
hard to implement. We are monitoring the oil field brine
contamination with the intent to tackle it in the short term.
Oil field brine remediation is a very expensive operation: You
can pump it out and dispose of it in a deep-injection well,
clean it up, or find a user of the contaminated water to get
it out of the system. There might be potential industrial or
municipal users that could take it, clean it up, and use it.
the aquifer several miles away. The second phase involved
a direct intake from the Little Arkansas River during high
flows. The city treats that water to a drinking water standard
and injects it back into the aquifer.
There are two purposes: (1) to recharge the aquifer in
and around Wichita’s well field where water levels had been
declining and to slow an oil field brine contamination plume
near the well field and (2) to gain recharge credits that will
allow it to pump at a later date. Through the end of 2014,
the city has put in about 5,000 acre-feet. While it is not a
lot of water in the great scheme of things, the city is still
optimizing the program.
Financing
While there are a lot of potential water projects out
there, there is not a lot of money. We are funded through a
special assessment based on appropriation quantity. We can
also assess land, but we are capped by law at 5 cents an acre
and $1 per acre‑foot. Right now, Equus Beds assesses the
maximum allowed by law. That allows the district to provide
Measuring Sustainability to Facilitate Use
The district is working with the Kansas Geological Society core services but does not allow it to undertake some of those
on developing a sustainability model. It is long overdue. We are bigger projects. That will have to be addressed, not only in
looking at sustainable yield down to a very small scale. We will this district but also statewide.
be able to take that information and determine more accurate
The Value of Local Management
recharge rates.
Our strength is in local management based on climate,
While most of the groundwater districts in the state are
hydrology, and water use. At the state level, we will have to
closed to new appropriation, we are still open. We evaluate
address the groundwater declines in western Kansas, the
applications based on a recharge rate that ensures safe yield,
water quality issues in central Kansas, and the surface water
but we really need to refine that number. The sustainability
reservoir storage and water quality in eastern Kansas. At the
model will help us develop a regulatory framework for new
same time, while addressing those issues, it is important that
applications and management. Currently, we use 6 inches
the state recognizes the importance of local management to
of recharge for most of the district, which is 20 percent of
make sure we do not have one-size-fits-all policies or rules.
our normal rainfall. We have lowered the recharge rate for
Kansas is diverse in terms of hydrology and climate. We want
safe‑yield calculations in certain areas of the district based on
water level data review, but more work is needed. It is not hard to make sure that any solution to these issues is appropriate,
effective, and site specific. In that regard,
to understand that our recharge rate is not uniform across the
Kansas’s groundwater management
district, so we need to get that right.
districts have an important role to play.
Active Recharge
Tim Boese has been with Equus Beds
The city of Wichita runs an aquifer storage and recovery
Groundwater Management District
project to build flexibility into its water supplies. The first
phase involved banked storage along the Little Arkansas River. No. 2 since 1992 and has served as
During high flows, the river comes up and the surface water
general manager since 2006. You can
naturally infiltrates into the river bank and aquifer adjacent to
reach Mr. Boese at (316) 835-2225.
the river, at which point the city pumps it and recharges it into
Irrigation Leader
17
Manager’s Profile
Randy Ray, Central Colorado Water Conservancy District
18
T
he Central Colorado
Water Conservancy
District (CCWCD)
develops, manages, and
protects water resources
in northeastern Colorado.
Located along the South
Platte River basin,
downstream of Denver and
about halfway to the state
line of Nebraska, the district
provides water augmentation and decree administration
for 1,100 wells across two subdistricts: the Groundwater
Management Subdistrict, formed in 1973, and the Well
Augmentation Subdistrict, formed in 2004. The CCWCD
manages a diverse portfolio of programs, from water quality
testing to education outreach to water recharge.
The CCWCD supplies water via water allotment
contracts for agricultural irrigation spanning 100,000 acres.
From vegetable farms that grow lettuce, cabbage, and carrots
to acres of alfalfa and corn used for feed on dairy, feedlot,
and poultry farms, growers within the CCWCD produce a
varied and growing selection of agricultural products.
At the helm of the CCWCD is Randy Ray, who
started as an intern with the district after graduating
from Colorado State University in the early 1990s and
became general manager in 2011. Having grown up on a
dairy farm in the district, Mr. Ray knows a thing or two
about irrigated agriculture along the South Platte River.
Irrigation Leader’s senior writer, John Crotty, spoke with
Mr. Ray about groundwater managing in Colorado,
building a diverse supply portfolio, and looking for ways to
conjunctively manage surface and groundwater resources.
Randy Ray: In the CCWCD’s Groundwater
Management Subdistrict (GMS) augmentation plan, there
are 875 wells. In 2002, we filed an application to have
those 875 wells in a plan of augmentation that included
replacement supplies of several thousand acre-feet of
senior water rights, long-term municipal leases, and alluvial
groundwater recharge projects as replacement supply.
The entire process took three years. Since the decrees
and metering of wells were required in about 2005, the
GMS has allocated members to pump about 50 percent
of their historical allotment, or about 33,290 acre-feet of
consumptive use. The wells are managed by contract with
the groundwater users; there are currently 515 contracts in
the GMS.
In 2004, the CCWCD filed a plan for the 440 wells of
the Well Augmentation Subdistrict (WAS). With 60 or 70
objectors to the plan, settlement terms were not adequate
for the WAS board of directors. The board directed counsel
to proceed with trial. Two years and $1 million later, the
district ended up with a decree in June 2006. For the WAS,
there were wins and losses from the trial. One unfortunate
loss was the inability to operate the wells in the WAS plan
for seven years. Today, there are 164 wells in the WAS
that are pumping at a 55 percent quota, or an allocation of
8,388 acre-feet of consumptive use.
John Crotty: How does the CCWCD manage
groundwater?
John Crotty: What does a quota mean for pumpers, and
how does the CCWCD calculate it?
Randy Ray: The groundwater we manage is alluvial,
so it is tied either to a tributary of the South Platte
River or the river itself. If a well extracts water from
that alluvial aquifer, at some point in time there will
be depletion in the stream. We allocate and manage
groundwater use by augmenting supply in the river at
the time, place, and location of depletion, as directed
by our court-approved decrees. Irrigators in the district
may obtain new well permits, provided the applicant has
an augmentation plan that can look several years into
the future to ensure that the water use of senior surface
water right holders are not diminished.
The state of Colorado grants and issues well permits.
Typically, the person or entity that wants to drill
the well acquires an augmentation supply through a
contract with the CCWCD or another entity. For new
augmentation plans, the applicant must go to water
court and file notice of the plan in his or her respective
Randy Ray: For irrigated farms with senior water rights,
we looked at the irrigated acreage on that farm and the
historical average yield of the senior water rights. We know
that the balance of the irrigation water requirement was
made up from the well. So a 100 percent quota would have
been 100 percent of the average pumping required to meet
the full crop on those acres. If you had a farm requirement
of 200 acre-feet, and historically your senior shares
delivered 100 acre-feet of consumptive use, then the district
grants a 100 percent contract quota with 100 acre-feet.
Today, we can only allow them to pump 50 and 55 percent
of the historical.
water division. If a third party suspects that the planned use
of the well may injure another water right, the third party
can file a statement of opposition. The water court makes a
ruling in about 18 to 30 months in simpler cases.
John Crotty: How do those rules apply to the
CCWCD’s subdistricts?
John Crotty: How do you go about getting them to that
full percentage?
Randy Ray: Well, everything takes money. We have
presented four different questions to our tax constituents
since 2002. We have been given the authority to borrow
up to $90 million, and those earlier bonds are a year or two
away from being paid off. Our constituents approved another
bond in 2012 for $60 million to acquire senior water rights
from willing sellers, develop slurry-lined gravel pit storage,
participate in the Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project, and
develop additional alluvial groundwater recharge projects.
When the snow melts off the Rockies this time of the year,
the river is flush and there is no demand. When that happens,
the CCWCD is able to divert water for storage and recharge.
In the storage example, that water is reintroduced to the South
Platte River when there are senior rights calling for water,
and in the recharge example, the water diverted in the spring
arrives as a subsurface return flow to the river. If there is a call,
a credit from the recharge is accounted against the member
well pumping.
Back in the 1980s, the CCWCD started using bentonite
slurry walls to line mined gravel pit reservoirs to convert
them to a sealed vessel for water storage. In 1988, we got a
water right for a pit on the Cache La Poudre River, which is
a tributary on the South Platte. We use those lined gravel pits
for the augmentation plans, and we have about 15,000 acrefeet of slurry-lined storage today. We are negotiating
and building some more. We are hoping to have another
5,000 acre-feet lined up pretty soon.
We also have $28 million dedicated to Chatfield
Reservoir, a flood control reservoir built in the early 1970s
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Built after the 1965
flood, which was devastating to the Denver metro area
and eastern Colorado, it is a mainstem dam on the South
Platte. The Water Resources Development Act of 2007
reallocated 20,600 acre-feet for storage. Today, the CCWCD
owns roughly 20 percent of the reallocation. Of the eight
participating districts, we are the only agricultural district.
Design of mitigation projects are underway, and we
anticipate being able to store water in 2019. There is no
requirement to raise the dam or modify the outlet. All the
work is to mitigate 500-plus acres of lost habitat and to
modify and replace recreational facilities at Chatfield State
Park. It is the highest grossing park in the state and has just
under 2 million visits per year.
We also lease reusable effluent from wastewater treatment
plants from the Denver metro area. We use that water supply
as a credit against well depletions.
Our portfolio is very diverse.
The Colorado constitution charges water users to make
the most beneficial use of water. During these wetter years,
a lot of water has left our state and flowed into Nebraska
over and above compact requirements. There will be a lot of
people wringing their hands when the dry years come again.
Nebraska manages water in the alluvial aquifer differently
than we do. Colorado keeps its alluvial aquifer brim full.
Return flows feed the river and take care of the senior rights
holders. Our groundwater users would like to see a little
different approach so that we use storage of the aquifer in
dry years instead of leaving those wells turned off. It has
been an uphill battle.
We have residents that are upset because groundwater
levels between Greeley and Denver are higher than they
have ever been recorded in history. It is creating agricultural
property damage and flooding out basements, primarily in
the small town of Gilcrest, south of Greeley.
As part of the process for the development of the state
water plan, the state formed roundtables for the various
river basins in the state. The South Platte basin roundtable
formed a groundwater technical committee to see what kind
of pilot projects could resolve high groundwater issues and
operate within the current law. We developed a pilot project
near the town of Gilcrest to pump more groundwater and
reduce surface water to the farms. We’ll try that out this
irrigation season. Colorado State University will do some
monitoring and follow the cones of depression from the well
pumping, and we will gather some data.
John Crotty: What is the CCWCD’s most pressing
challenge?
Randy Ray: Open communication. You have to be
able to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Don’t take
for granted what you think the other person’s needs are.
If you know what they need, a lot of times you can come
up with some resolution. Generally speaking, I learned
that from my predecessor, Tom Cech. In the past, there
were deep disagreements between the surface water users
and groundwater pumpers. It could get ugly. But those
relationships, generally speaking, have mended, and they are
seeing eye to eye.
Randy Ray: Growth in the state of Colorado is one of the
most pressing challenges. The state’s population is anticipated
to double by 2050. Roughly 80 percent of that will be in the
South Platte basin. There will be more and more demand
for water, and we will do more and more development of
supplies to compete for the limited water supply as the growth
continues.
John Crotty: Where would you like to see Colorado’s
groundwater management in the next 10 years?
Randy Ray: I would like to see a shift toward conjunctive
management of alluvial groundwater and surface water
rights. Our vegetable supply producers need a constant and
reliable supply of water; if they can’t guarantee a supply
of a certain tonnage to a grocer, they lose their contract.
Irrigation supply coming from groundwater will be more
and more important. Food safety laws are requiring bacterial
testing, so converting those irrigators to groundwater will be
important.
John Crotty: Finally, what advice do you have for other
managers seeking to facilitate good relationships between
groundwater and surface water users?
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The Innovators
26
Measurable Water Savings With
the Dragon-Line Mobile Drip System
S
aying your irrigation system maximizes water
efficiencies is one thing; proving it is another.
Several recent studies conducted by Kansas State
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systems save water and have the potential to improve
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is great news: They can irrigate with less water to
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Precision Mobile Drip Irrigation (PMDI) systems,
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Monty Teeter, chief executive officer of Teeter
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about water efficiency for a long time. A native of
southwestern Kansas, he understands the challenges
facing the people who rely on the Ogallala aquifer: “If
you take the approximate 8,000 pivots running every
day in our area, and if we were losing 15 to 50 percent
of all the water being pumped out of the aquifer due
to evaporation or wind loss each year, despite all the
efforts to conserve it as we know today, it would be
staggering. It doesn’t make any sense! I believe that we
can increase the efficiency by saving a large percent
of this loss with the use of Dragon-Line, because
we deliver all the water directly to the soil without
puddling, run off, wind loss, evaporation, and wetting
the crop or residue.”
Needless to say, irrigated agriculture is the
cornerstone of the economy of southwestern Kansas.
Mr. Teeter emphasizes, “It is a big deal, and it all
revolves around one common denominator—water.
Agriculture is a billion-dollar-plus industry supporting
hundreds of thousand jobs.”
The Value of Independent Research
Since he started using PMDI on his own farm
back in 2013, Mr. Teeter has seen a 20–50 percent
yield increase and more moisture profile in the soil
(compared with conventional center-pivot systems).
“I also saw a difference in the crops—they tasseled
10 days sooner and were generally healthier with less
insect infestation.”
While those results were promising, Mr. Teeter
recognized the value of research on the product. “It
didn’t matter what kind of yields I showed on my
Irrigation Leader
own farm. Without documented research, I
wouldn’t be able to promote this product to
help other people. I knew that Dragon-Line
needed to have university backing and testing
to quantify the water savings.”
He reached out to researchers at Kansas
State University, Southwest Research and
Extension Center, and invited them to visit
his farm and learn more about the DragonLine. Dr. Isayah Kisekka, who is in charge
of the Kansas State University research farm
in Garden City, put a package together and
offered to test the Dragon-Line.
The Kansas State University Study
Last year, researchers from Kansas State
University, under a three-year grant from the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, began to
investigate the efficacy of PMDI relative to
conventional (low-elevation, spray-application)
center-pivot irrigation. Dr. Kisekka stated that
the ultimate goal of the study is to maximize
how much economic yield they get per acreinch of water applied. Teeter Irrigation donated
a Valley center pivot with a Dragon-Line
system for the purposes of the study.
Researchers placed moisture probes and water metering devices on
a four-tower pivot system. Replicating both 600-gallon-per-minute
use and 300-gallon-per-minute use for PMDI and conventional
(low-energy, sprinkler-application) center-pivot irrigation applied to
corn on the university’s test plot over an irrigation season, the study
showed (1) the average daily soil water evaporation for drip was
1.0 millimeter per day and for sprinkler was 1.6 millimeters per day,
(2) there was no statistically significant difference in yield between
the two, and (3) the soil water at the end of the irrigation season for
low-well capacity was significantly higher under PMDI than under
sprinkler.
Dr. Kisekka already sees the benefits of PMDI. “One of the
potential advantages that I see with this technology is the ability to
minimize loss from evaporation, both wind and canopy.” He also
thinks that there is a great potential in fertigation.
Notes From the Field
While pleased with the study’s initial findings, Mr. Teeter believes
there are valuable differences in yield attributable to the PMDI of
Dragon-Line. While not statistically significant for the purposes
of the study, the Dragon-Line did show a nearly 25-bushel-peracre increase over conventional center-pivot irrigation methods on
crops watered at 300 gallons per minute. In addition, Dragon-Lineirrigated corn watered at 300 gallons per minute produced within 4
percent of the yield of conventionally irrigated corn at 600 gallons
per minute and a savings of 6 inches of watering.
Mr. Teeter notes the difference, “On my farm, it takes 72 days
to put 6 inches of water on a field of 125 acres at 200 gallons per
minute. It is huge deal! What is happening with our mobile drip
irrigation system is that we bank water rather than evaporate water.
We turn that savings into yield.” According to Mr. Teeter, that 25–
bushel difference has the potential to pay for a Dragon-Line system
in the field plus the potential to save water going forward.
Transforming Center-Pivot Irrigation Through
Drip Technology
After that first Kansas State engagement, Dragon-Line
has developed other relationships with universities to facilitate
subsequent studies on the product. PDMI, through the Dragon-Line,
is now being studied at the University of Nebraska; Colorado State
University; Texas A&M; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
Agricultural Research Service, in Bushland, Texas.
The fact that customers keep coming back to Mr. Teeter for the
Dragon-Line says a lot about the product and the commitment
of the region’s growers to water sustainability. The continued
research on its benefits should help spread the word. Mr. Teeter is
both hopeful and resolute. “We haven’t had anyone who has tried
a Dragon-Line not buy additional systems. Here in southwestern
Kansas, our livelihoods depend on making every drop count. That is
what we are doing.”
Dr. Isayah Kisekka monitoring the Dragon-Line at the
Kansas State University Southwest Research and
Extension Center test plot.
Irrigation Leader
For more information about the Dragon-Line, contact Mr. Monty Teeter
at [email protected] or visit http://www.DragonLine.net.
27
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The Innovators
30
Bringing Irrigation District
Management to the Cloud
F
or more than three years, WaterMaster has
provided irrigation districts with cloud-based
water accounting, invoicing, water order and
delivery tracking, and reporting.
Origins
WaterMaster’s parent company, Advanced Control
Systems (ACS), has been in business since 1992. It
started out providing service work for computerand numeric-controlled machinery and equipment.
Over the years, in response to customer needs and
requests, ACS has grown into an engineering and
consulting company providing software solutions and
control programming for manufacturing, water and
wastewater, and irrigation automation.
The idea for WaterMaster’s cloud-based irrigation
account solutions was born out of ACS’s work with
the Vale Oregon Irrigation District. ACS, which
had provided SCADA controls to the district in the
past, worked with the district to automate gates at
a reservoir three hours away from the district office.
Prior to automation, office staff would call the dam
tender and request the needed amount of water for the
canal. The tender would go out, turn on the hydraulics
at the dam, open up the gates, and then drive her
ATV—with her little dog in tow—half a mile down
the creek to take measurement. She would then go
back and make another adjustment. All together, it
was a two-hour process repeated a few times a day.
When the dam tender retired, the district reached
out to ACS to find an automated solution. ACS
installed some controllers to provide a cellular
connection to the dam. According to Curt Landreth,
ACS president, “It enabled district operators to sit
in their office three hours away and control the gates
from their computer screen or phone.” The solution
was total computer control.
In working with Vale Oregon Irrigation District,
Irrigation Leader
ACS learned about the district’s
antiquated billing system for
irrigators—the DOS-based system
would crank out invoices for some
475 customers, requiring repeated
modifications to get them right.
In addition, the district’s ditch
riders were still taking orders
on paper and providing usage
updates only once a month. The
solution: Mr. Landreth and his
team at ACS wrote software to
enable the district to interface
with QuickBooks. The invoicing
process was reduced from days to
minutes, and a week and a half ’s
worth of water order data and
report entry turned into two days’
worth. WaterMaster was born.
The Service
Today, WaterMaster offers six
modules:
• BillTrack—manages
accounts and produces
customizable invoices with
payment tracking.
• WaterRights—tracks a
district’s water rights
and properties with legal
descriptions and irrigable acreage.
• DitchRider—enables the district manager to track
gate activity and flow rates and view real-time
demand for a district’s water distribution at any time.
• RideKick—enables ditch riders to track, create, and
receive water orders in the field via an iPad app.
• District Groups—helps districts assign members to a
division, consolidate administrative fees, and allocate
votes based on multiple factors.
WaterMaster is state-of-the-art, cloud-based software
hosted on the WaterMaster servers, which are protected by
bank-grade 256-bit SSL encryption and backed up daily.
How It Works
WaterMaster works with a district to migrate as much
historic data as is reasonable into its system. The goal is
to be able to present existing data in a recognizable and
comprehensive way to the district. From there, a district
can use the WaterMaster application to do billing, charge
fees, turn water on and off, and track water certificates and
historical certificate transactions.
Ditch rider data collection is completely automated.
Ditch riders can enter data directly into an iPad app,
Irrigation Leader
A screenshot of the Ditchrider module.
which automatically synchronizes and updates into the
WaterMaster database. As soon as an order is submitted
through the app, it is in the database and added to the
demand calculations needed by district management.
Ditch riders often work in areas without phone or cell
service. WaterMaster has addressed that issue by enabling
ditch riders to take orders and record the adjustment of
each headgate or diversion point without cell service;
the information will synchronize with the system once
the ditch rider returns to cell service or WiFi. When
the information synchronizes, the app lets the customer
and the district office know exactly how much water was
ordered and delivered on a particular day.
Tyke Trogdon, WaterMaster’s western states regional
director, says that it only takes about five minutes for one
of his customers, Farmers Irrigation District in Hood
River, Oregon, which serves 1,800 patrons, to generate
all its invoices. Mr. Trogdon sees long-term benefits for
irrigation districts. “We are saving our customers hundreds
of hours in time, and we are improving the accuracy
31
of their water accounting. Our system prevents the
distribution of water to a customer beyond his allotment,
which is just one of many ways WaterMaster aids in water
conservation.”
Costs
According to Mr. Landreth, “Each module is about the
cost of a cell phone each month. For that kind of monthly
fee, you get all of the interaction without all the hassles
of maintaining servers or software—there is no need to
upgrade, pay maintenance fees, or purchase tech support.
Also, there is no contract. If your district does not like our
service, then you can stop paying us.”
A cloud-based account system poses unique challenges.
Mr. Trogdon noted that some potential customers and
their board members do not always understand what
exactly they would be buying. “We migrate a district’s
data into our system—we don’t install anything on your
computer. [A district] may not feel like it is getting
anything. You pay monthly for use of the app, but there is
nothing physical to associate with it.”
But the features that cause those concerns are also the
system’s greatest strengths. For Mr. Landreth, “The lack of
a physical product is the benefit of a cloud-based system.
You do not have to maintain software or have hightech computers or an IT department. All you need is an
Internet connection.”
Connecting With Irrigators
Mr. Trogdon is proud that WaterMaster supports
organizations that support the irrigation districts, such
as the Oregon Water Resources Congress, the Idaho
Water Users Association, and the Family Farm Alliance.
For Mr. Landreth, working with irrigators has been a
fun process. “There has been a big learning curve in
understanding the intricate details of the irrigation
industry. You will never meet more salt-of-the-earth
people than those in the irrigation industry.”
For more information about WaterMaster, visit
www.mywatermaster.com or call Tyke Trogdon
at (208) 362-5858.
Tyke Trogdon testing a WaterMaster module.
32
Irrigation Leader
ADVERTISEMENT
The Innovators
Extending the Life of
Water Delivery Systems:
Standard Polymers Lining
and Coating Solutions
Headquartered in Burlington, Iowa, Standard Polymers is
an industrial coating and linings representative that specializes
in American-made industrial polymer materials for protection
against steel corrosion and concrete erosion. Standard Polymers
provides engineering consulting services, industrial coatings
contractors, and industrial facilities personnel in 11 states.
Founded in 1989 as Preferred Products Corporation, the
company has honed its industrial coatings and linings expertise
across a number of industries, including food and beverage,
power, and wastewater. Part of the company’s service portfolio
includes water delivery systems. Today as Standard Polymers,
the company has the same values, employees, and reputation it
provided as Preferred Products Corporation.
In 2012, the company began its participation in a siphonlining project for the Central Nebraska Public Power and
Irrigation District (CNPPID) in central Nebraska. CNPPID
embarked on a multiphase project to clean and line the steel
inverted siphons, dating back 70 years, on a couple of its
canals. The first phase of the project involved coating a siphon
1.3 miles long and 78 inches in diameter; the second phase
covered a 2,063-foot, 80-inch-diameter pipe; and the most
recent phase involved 1,200 feet of 84-inch-diameter pipe.
CNPPID hired an industrial coating contractor to line
the inner surface of the siphons with polyurethane hybrid.
The contractor cleaned and blasted the siphon walls before
applying the lining. According to Standard Polymers Sales
Representative Levi Banes, the 100-millimeter polyurethane
application protects the siphon from corrosion and reduces
hydraulic friction within the siphon, facilitating the siphon’s
flow capacity and decreasing reservoir demands.
Standard Polymers provided quality assurance and control
for the project, verifying performance of the coating and
providing onsite support for coating application. According to
Mr. Banes, the lining can add an additional 25 to 30 years to
the life of the CNPPID siphons.
Since the completion of the CNPPID project back in 2014,
Standard Polymers has continued to work with irrigation
districts in Nebraska, helping to line concrete drains, canals, and
elevated flumes. With 15 to 20 percent of its work dedicated to
water systems, Standard Polymers looks to expand its footprint
in the irrigation market.
For more information about Standard Polymers’ lining and coating
services, please contact Levi Banes at (319) 237-1900.
34
Irrigation Leader
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International
Talking Irrigation in India
With Justin Harter
I
n late January, the World Bank hosted an
international workshop, Integrated Water
Management for Irrigation Networks and Flood
Management—International Best Practices, in
Lucknow, India. Lucknow is the capital city of the state of
Uttar Pradesh, which, with a population of 200 million,
is the most populous in the country. Uttar Pradesh is
located in northern India, just south of the Nepalese
border. It relies on the monsoon season between June and
September for most of its annual rainfall.
Although the residents of Uttar Pradesh have been
flood irrigating for thousands of years, the Uttar Pradesh
Irrigation Department (UPID) was organized in 1823.
Today, the department delivers water originating in the
Himalayas through 46,600 miles of canals and laterals to
serve 23 million square miles and generating hydropower
for the region. Local growers produce a significant amount
of India’s grains and vegetables.
The state irrigation department faces many challenges
familiar to irrigators in the United States, including
urbanization, aging infrastructure, canal system
inefficiencies, environmental concerns, and climate change.
In addition, during monsoon season, Uttar Pradesh’s
major rivers—the Ganges, the Yamuna, the Ghagra, the
Gomti, the Gandak, the Sone, and the Sarda—flood large
sections of the state and cause loss of crops, property, and
life.
The World Bank organized the workshop for the UPID
to “gather best available practices in the field across the
world to craft a roadmap for modernizing the UPID
for effective management of its vast canal network, [as
well as] increase efficiency in irrigation and thereby
36
productivity.”
Justin Harter, general manager of the Naches–
Selah Irrigation District (NSID) and president of the
Washington State Water Resources Association, traveled
to Lucknow to talk about improving water efficiencies
in a district that dates back more than 100 years. He
discussed his efforts to lead the modernization of NSID,
overhauling 90‑year-old wooden pipes and flumes and
automating the district’s canal system with Rubicon gates.
Irrigation Leader’s senior writer, John Crotty, spoke with
Mr. Harter about his experience.
John Crotty: How did you get connected to the
workshop?
Justin Harter: Rubicon Water was my connection.
The World Bank invests heavily in India’s
infrastructure and was putting on the workshop.
Rubicon was a part of it and reached out to me in
December of last year about giving a presentation.
While it was short notice—requiring expedited service
to get a passport—to make the trip, everything fell
into place.
John Crotty: What was the purpose of the
workshop and what topics were covered?
Justin Harter: The World Bank was bringing
together a group of experts to talk about canal
efficiencies, and automation was a small part of the
workshop. The World Bank was looking at regional
and basin-wide water management, including
Irrigation Leader
irrigation supply, on behalf of the state irrigation
department. The conference addressed large-scale,
area-wide projects down to more focused projects
like mine.
Presenters from the Netherlands and Spain
covered their respective country’s overall water
management. There was also a lot of discussion on
forecasting rain, snowpack, and runoff. There were
also presenters from other parts of India.
I focused my talk on making the most of limited
resources and still being able to improve. I began
my talk broadly to give people a sense of where
Washington State is, and what irrigation is like
in the Yakima and Columbia basin projects. I also
talked about precipitation in the Yakima Valley and
the need for irrigation in our arid climate.
John Crotty: What kind of feedback did you get
from the audience?
Justin Harter: People appreciated hearing about
the district’s ability to make the most of limited
resources. As I talked, I got immediate feedback in
the form of people in the audience taking screenshots
of my presentation slides with their cell phones.
John Crotty: Do you feel that attending the workshop
connected you to the world irrigation and agricultural
community?
Justin Harter: Yes. I knew from early on in my career that
India, Egypt, and Rome were irrigation pioneers. There were
canals and flood irrigation in India before the British, but the
British helped put together the modern water department in
the country. What I found interesting, and what ties the UPID
to irrigation in the United States, was that the engineers that
helped build the UPID system moved on to California years
later and influenced the development of early projects there.
John Crotty: While you were only there for a few days,
what stood out?
Justin Harter: Well, at the workshop, I learned that India
has the most irrigated acres of any country in the world. In
the short time I was on the ground, I could see firsthand how
the state’s irrigation facilities were intermixed with the urban
area—there were fields of saffron right next to apartment
complexes. And, at a more personal level, I saw real extremes:
There was a lot that was modern and like the United States,
but there is also extreme poverty and other aspects of life that
have changed little over the centuries.
Introductions at the Integrated Water for Irrigation Networks and Flood Management workshop.
Irrigation Leader
37
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CLASSIFIED LISTINGS
TECHNICIAN/PROJECT
OPERATIONS POSITION
The Upper Republican Natural Resources District
(URNRD) is accepting applications for a Water
Resources Technician/Project Operator. This is a
fulltime position with duties including field collection
and compilation of information related to water
quantity and quality, and oversight of a stream flow
enhancement project.
The position also includes: Inspecting combined
irrigation/fertilizer application systems; measuring
groundwater levels; collecting water usage from
irrigation wells; maintaining irrigation flow meters;
and collecting and testing water samples. The duties
are an important aspect of the URNRD’s efforts
to responsibly manage water and other natural
resources within a three-county region of southwest
Nebraska.
The successful candidate will also provide
general maintenance and oversight of lands
and infrastructure that comprise a stream flow
enhancement project designed to aid compliance
with an interstate water compact.
A bachelor’s degree is preferred but not required.
Knowledge of and experience with irrigation systems,
general maintenance skills, and an ability to work
independently are preferred. The starting salary
range is $40,000-$60,000, but negotiable based on
qualifications and experience. Paid holidays, vacation
and sick leave, medical, vision, dental insurance,
and retirement available. Applications will be taken
until a successful candidate is found. The URNRD is
an Equal Opportunity Employer. Contact the Upper
Republican NRD for a job application and full job
description at 511 E 5th St, Imperial, NE 69033 or
download from www.urnrd.org. For additional
information please contact the District at
(308) 882-5173
Irrigation Leader
WATER RESOURCES MANAGER/
ASSISTANT MANAGER POSITION
The Upper Republican Natural Resources District is
accepting applications for a Water Resources Manager/
Assistant Manager position. This is a fulltime position, with
responsibilities including development, implementation,
and supervision of the District’s Groundwater (quality
and quantity) and Integrated Management Plans, Rules,
and Regulations. This position also includes: overseeing
the water quality and quantity monitoring networks;
collecting and interpreting ground and surface water
and soil data; providing technical support for review
and interpretation of studies on geology, ground and
surface water; preparation of reports; and updates
and presentations to the NRD board/committees and
general public. The Upper Republican NRD has broad
statutory authorities to manage water and other natural
resources in a three-county region of southwest Nebraska.
Bachelor’s degree in natural sciences/resources,
agricultural, hydrology, geology or agricultural/biological
systems engineering is preferred. Knowledge of and
experience with geographic information systems (GIS)
and database management preferred. The starting
salary range is $50,000-$75,000, but negotiable based
on qualifications/experience. Paid holidays, vacation
& sick leave, medical, vision, dental insurance, and
retirement available. Applications will be taken until a
successful candidate is found. The URNRD is an Equal
Opportunity Employer. Contact the Upper Republican
NRD for a job application and full job description at
511 E 5th St., Imperial, NE 69033 or download from
www.urnrd.org. For additional information please
contact the District at (308) 882-5173.
For information on posting to the
Classified Listings, please e-mail
[email protected]
39
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idea + achievement
Offices worldwide
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2016 CALENDAR
April 11–14
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June 22–24
June 22–23
June 27–July 1
June 29–July 1
July 11–12
July 26–27
August 3–5
August 23–25
August 24–26
National Water Resources Association, Federal Water Issues Conference, Washington, DC
Association of California Water Agencies, Spring Conference and Exhibition, Monterey, CA
Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona, Annual Meeting and Water Conference, Tempe, AZ
Idaho Water Users Association, Summer Water Law and Resource Issues Seminar, Sun Valley, ID
Texas Water Conservation Association, Mid-Year Conference, Horseshoe Bay, TX
WESTCAS, Annual Conference, Santa Fe, NM
Water Leader Workshop Sponsored by the Irrigation Leader and Municipal Water Leader magazines,
Milwaukee, WI
ESRI, User Conference, San Diego, CA
Groundwater Management Districts Association, Summer Session, Yakima, WA
North Dakota Water Resources Districts, Joint Summer Meetings, Fargo, ND
Kansas Water Congress, Summer Conference, Wichita, KS
National Water Resources Association, Western Water Seminar, Sun Valley, ID
Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, Groundwater Summit, San Marcos, TX
Colorado Water Congress, Summer Conference and Membership Meeting, Steamboat Springs, Colorado
For more information on advertising in Irrigation Leader magazine,
or if you would like to have a water event listed here, please phone (703) 517-3962
or e-mail [email protected].
Submissions are due the first of each month preceding the next issue.
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www.WaterAndPowerReport.com