Water Conservation in Irrigation Agriculture

Excerpts from the report: Water conservation is a subject of growing concern to communities everywhere. Alarmed by the rapidly growing demands on our water resource, Government and industry alike are studying ways of making water go farther by making it do more jobs with a given amount, or by reducing waste. Citizens' groups are rightly concerned about the protection of their water sources and preservation of the recreational and esthetic values of streams, lakes, and reservoirs. One of the biggest opportunities for water savings is in irrigation agriculture, for that is where the most of the supply is used. In some western watersheds as much as 90 percent of the streamflow is devoted to irrigation, and in the East, irrigation is rapidly becoming an accepted practice in modern agriculture. As our population grows and the demand for agricultural products increases, more land inevitably will be put under irrigation. This poses a demand for additional water from supplies that are already too small in many places. At the same time, industrial and technological development have the effect of pyramiding water requirements. Experience with conservation farming on irrigated land and the improvements in irrigation efficiency that have been attained in soil conservation districts indicate plainly that conservation irrigation can help meet tomorrow's water problems. These possibilities are explored in the following pages.