TAWC Solutions: Tools for Water Management

1. TAWC Solutions:Tools for Water Management Texas Alliance for Water Conservation Rick Kellison, Project Director Justin Weinheimer, Assistant Research Professor, TTU

2. Declining Water Resources

3. Projected Water Demand and Supply Texas High Plains Source: Texas Water Development Board 2006 Projected Demand Livestock Existing supplies Irrigation Needs Steam-electric Manufacturing County-other Municipal Mining

4. Texas Alliance for Water Conservation Senate Bill 1053 Funded through 2014 by the Texas Water Development Board Senator Robert Duncan Texas Water Development Board $6.2 Million ‘Water is Our Future’

5. NRCS & ARS A Cooperative Venture with theTexas Water Development Board Texas Tech University

6. Producer Board Glenn Schur, Chair Plainview, TX Boyd Jackson, Co-Chair Lockney, TX Eddie Teeter, Secretary Lockney, TX Keith Phillips Lockney, TX Lanney Bennett Plainview, TX Bubba Ehrlic Plainview, TX Mark Beedy Floydada, TX Jeff Don Terrell Floydada, TX Jody Foster Lockney, TX

7. Project Management Team

8. Primary Objectives of Project • Reduce total water use • Enhance profitability • Identify systems that meet objectives 1 & 2 • Understand system behavior

10. Crops/Livestock (Total 4,500 acres) Corn Cotton Grain Sorghum Cotton Cotton Monocultures Cotton-Cattle Grass-cattle Specialty Crops

11. Irrigation Methods Sprinkler Furrow Sub-surface Drip Dryland

12. Site Monitoring • Rainfall • Temperature • Water applied • Soil moisture • Production inputs • Plant & animal products • Advanced technologies • Netirrigate • Smartcrop • AquaSpy

13. Irrigation Applied to TAWC Sites, 2005-2009Pivot, subsurface drip and furrow irrigation combined

14. TAWC Systems, 2005 & 2010(Percent of total systems) 2005 Systems 2010 Systems

17. What IS ET? • Evapo-transpiration combines: • Evaporation • Transpiration • Crop Water Use

18. Irrigation Scheduling The procedure used to determine: • When to apply • How much water to apply • Specific Management Goals

19. Resources in Irrigation Scheduling http://www.tawcsolutions.org

25. TAWC-SolutionsResource Allocation AnalyzerDr. Justin WeinheimerResearch Assistant Professor, Assistant Director CASNR Water CenterDepartment of Agricultural and Applied Economics, TTU

26. Economic Decision Tool: Planning Ahead • Irrigated farm level decisions will occur based on water limitations • Natural limits aquifer (declining water table) • Conservation measures • Economic Decision Tool illustrates planning options which maximize profit

27. Maximum Yield 1560 lbs @ 23” Maximum Profit 1530 lbs @ 19” Profitability Through Water Allocation

28. No pumping limits. Net Returns per acre of $360 60 ac 1350lb cotton with 14 inches 60 ac of 230bu corn with 19 inches Profitability Through Water Allocation

29. Example of 12 inches per acre limit. Net Returns of $328 50 acres of best dryland alternative Profitability Through Water Allocation

30. www.tawcsolutions.org

31. Texas Tech University

32. Texas Tech University

35. Texas Tech University

36. Texas Tech University

37. Texas Tech University

38. Texas Tech University

39. TAWC-SolutionsResource Allocation Analyzer • To be used as a planning aid • Captures changes in commodity price, water availability, and production costs • Generates several options which maximize net returns/acre

40. Thank You!