Communicating outcomes
Ag irrigation improvements save estimated 26,000 acre-feet
By Jenna Smith
For more information regarding this subject, contact:
B.L. Harris
(979) 845-1851
bl-harris@tamu.edu
Welcoming rains hit drought-stricken New Mexico as project personnel arrived for the third annual Rio Grande Basin Initiative Conference, April 5-7, 2004, in Las Cruces. It was fitting that the week provided numerous discussions and agency input on water issues while at the same time, the Las Cruces area experienced more rainfall than it had received in the last 10 years.
Project participants from New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Texas A&M University System (TAMUS) participated in the three-day event, which brought together agency representatives, Congressional staffers, irrigation district managers, specialists, researchers and administrators.
“We want to see outcomes, accomplishments and numbers of gallons of water saved,” said B.L. Harris, project manager of the Rio Grande Basin Initiative and associate director of the Texas Water Resources Institute, during opening remarks. Linking economists, engineers and other professionals will help quantify the work being done and detail the project benefits to the people in the basin, he said.
Researchers and Extension specialists within the project evaluated past efforts associated with the goals of the Rio Grande Basin Initiative. Harris said that many water-saving gains have been made through the Initiative this past year, from both a research and Extension perspective.
“One water program for residents in West Texas has already decreased El Paso’s water usage to 140 gallons per household per day,” he said. “By implementing additional practices such as rainwater harvesting, in-home water conservation and low water-use landscapes, that number could be reduced to 125 gallons of water per day. This results in 7.5 million gallons of water saved each day.”
“Xeriscaping is a water-saving technique that we are trying to educate homeowners on how to implement into their landscapes,” he said. “We have found water-usage amounts of several South Texas native shrubs and trees, indicating those plants with the lowest and highest water usage amounts. By creating a new low-water landscaping trend among homeowners, millions of gallons of water can be saved each year.”
The Rio Grande Basin Initiative has completed its third year, and continues to increase its involvement in Rio Grande counties as well as with cooperating agencies and entities. Work in agricultural irrigation across both states has helped save more than 26,000 acre-feet of water this past year alone, Harris said.
“We are working at a steady, realistic pace,” Harris said. “There is no doubt that we can continue to achieve the goals we set out to accomplish at the project’s start, not to mention tackle new water issues and conservation concerns that may arise.”
