February 5, 2016
CapitalPress.com
California center helps farmers
make right irrigation choices
By JULIA HOLLISTER
For the Capital Press
The current California
drought is the worst in recent
memory and could continue,
said Sarge Green, project man-
ager at the California Water In-
stitute in Fresno.
“It could continue even
with a ‘wet’ year because we
have substantially over-ex-
tracted groundwater in the San
Joaquin Valley since 1970 to
the extent it is at its deepest av-
erage elevation ever,” he said.
Groundwater, he said,
makes up from 42 to 100 per-
cent of the water supply, de-
pending on the surface water
availability and the location.
The original water center
at California State Universi-
ty-Fresno was established to
study irrigation technology in
the 1980s. The California Wa-
ter Institute was created as part
of the 2000 voter-approved
bond issue known as Prop-
osition 13 and predicated on
the idea that the region needs
an impartial organization that
could also de-
velop sound wa-
ter policy ideas
and practices.
“Water avail-
ability has be-
come a signii-
Sarge
cant challenge
Green
for some areas
of the state and
especially in the San Joaquin
Valley, and competition for wa-
ter will likely force more rapid
changes,” Green said. “These
changes include treatment and
use of supplies with marginal
water quality.”
The resulting costs will
force more investment in spe-
cialty crops, as their higher re-
turns are needed to cover the
higher costs of water, he said.
“There has already been a
shift of cropping patterns, such
as much-reduced acreages of
alfalfa and cotton,” he said.
“That trend will continue.”
Green had advice for farm-
ers and ranchers regarding
ways to save money and water
on irrigation.
“Water and energy eficien-
cy investments have to be eval-
uated from the standpoint of
their cost and beneits,” he said.
“Whether you elect to install
new technology depends on
factors like your soils, topog-
raphy (slope mostly) and future
water costs. If the investment
returns better crop results that
cover the investment and more,
that is a good move.”
However, he said, “There is
often the assumption that auto-
matically going to something
like drip irrigation will save
water, energy and money.”
If a drip system is installed
to conserve water and poten-
tially increase crop yields, that
design may force a farmer or
rancher to constantly use pres-
sure from a well rather than
waiting for his or her turn of
surface water, he said.
The energy costs of lifting
the well water and pressuriz-
ing the drip system may not be
economical if the crop returns
are not adequate, he said. If
that’s the case, using surface
water may have been the better
choice.
Creek gets a makeover, with lots of help
By HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
For the Capital Press
The amazing transformation
of a degraded segment of Peb-
ble Creek in southeastern Idaho
near Bancroft was 10 years in
the making.
Two channels low through
the property of Mike and Roxy
Holsten, and sometime after
1941 those channels had been
straightened by a previous land-
owner for irrigation purposes.
Chris Banks, a water quality
resource consultant for the Car-
ibou Conservation District and
conservationist for the Idaho As-
sociation of Soil Conservation
Districts, said that over time the
channels had eroded, severely
damaging their banks and wid-
ening.
“It was dificult for Mike to
get his equipment across these
streams. His livestock went
down into the stream to drink
Turn to CREEK, Page 8
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