2004-05 Deliverables
Task 1 Research
Principal Investigator(s): Ron Lacewell
- Conduct economic and energy analysis by applying RIDGECON© for selected Irrigation District renovation projects authorized by Congress for the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley in close coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation. This includes updates during the process. Reports are published in the TWRI as they are completed and after scoring by the Bureau of Reclamation to assure confidentiality until all projects in a set are submitted.
- New projects (approximately 20) are being submitted to Congress for the 2005 session asking for authorization under the Bureau of Reclamation. With authorization of these projects, economic and energy analysis by applying RIDGECON© will be done on a priority basis working with the identified Irrigation Districts and Bureau of Reclamation.
- Continue to work one-on-one with irrigation district managers and the districts' engineers, developing rapport and demonstrating value of the RIDGECON© model to district operations. (continuous and essential to a high quality report)
- Working with the Bureau of Reclamation, provide our scoring as well as the supporting input and justification for scoring projects (prioritizing) for funding during each of the twice annual groupings. This will be done two times over the project period.
- Present a contributed paper(s) at the UCOWR meetings in Portland, Oregon reporting economic and conservation analyzes results to date from RIDGECON© applications as well as comparison of the range and implication. (July 2004)
- Conduct risk analysis for selected irrigation districts renovation projects to provide insight into the range of potential water savings and associated costs/energy savings per acre foot of water conserved. (Fall 2004)
- Estimate the value of property protected by IBWC levees along the Rio Grande and expected or potential losses associated with a breach of a levee on the Texas side of the river. (summer 2004)