“Drought” was the title of my article for Irrigation Today magazine in January 2017 right after the Irrigation Association co-located its Irrigation Show with the National Ground Water Association’s Groundwater Week. In it I spoke about how our two associations will forever be linked due to drought. This December, six years later at the 2022 Irrigation Show and Education Week, the IA and NGWA will again co-locate their annual shows. We are still linked by virtue of the extended drought conditions, especially in the western United States.
Since that first article, there have been numerous others written, presentations and lectures made about ways to improve irrigation efficiencies and how to make less irrigation water go further. Members of both associations know the true value of both surface water and groundwater for irrigation and are working endlessly to make improvements to compensate for this extended drought.
Technological improvements in sensing soil moisture content, stress in trees and plants, water delivery methods, and water loss prevention have helped greatly to reduce consumption of both surface and groundwater. Despite all the savings and efforts being made, the drought has put surface water supplies into critical reserve categories. As surface water supplies are curtailed to some growers, they turn to groundwater wells to provide irrigation water. The problem is, due to the drought the amount of available groundwater is also approaching critical reserves. Governmental agencies are taking steps to restrict drilling new wells in many areas.
If the trend of less precipitation and rising temperatures extends as is predicted by many, additional restrictions on water for growers, farmers and even ranchers will likely impact the production of food and products necessary for our economy. I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention the impact the drought is having on turf industries like golf courses. Some are asking, “What more can we do?”
Because water is not available to them, some farmers are plowing up their orchards and fields, letting other fields go fallow. Others are just throwing in the towel and selling their farms to larger farming groups and foreign investors. If this trend continues, our long-standing independent agricultural industry will be greatly weakened. We must have water and food to survive. Our national population is exploding with an increasing number of mouths to feed, yet growing food is becoming more difficult.
It’s not enough that extended drought is putting pressure on farmers and growers, certain sectors of our society are putting additional pressure on small operators to do even more to protect the environment by restricting pumping and not using chemicals to control pests and diseases. Factor in the rising costs of electrical and fluid energy supplies necessary for all forms of irrigation.
The drought also has adverse impacts beyond just the potential loss of our critical domestic food production capabilities. There are field worker job losses and income for all the support industries to our agriculture and turf industries. We may be slowly losing control of our national food chain.
One population that has been dealing with drought for eons of years is the Navajo people of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. To them, water is life and believed to be sacred. When they make a garden to grow their food, they believe they are making a home for all that requires water in their world. They also believe that “when we don’t love each other enough it does not rain.” Perhaps they have found the answer to why we have our droughts?
As drought conditions continue to intensify, farmers need to take the time to understand and optimize their irrigation systems and equipment. That’s one thing they can do to help protect both our water resources and food supply.
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