Irrigation Water Requirements

Excerpts from the report: It is essential that the water requirements and consumptive use of water be known in irrigation planning for soil conservation and irrigation districts and for individual farms. Conservation of water supplies, as well as of soils, is of first importance in the agricultural economy. In basin-wide investigations of water utilization and in water conservation surveys, consumptive water requirement is one of the most important factors to be considered. There is an urgent need for information on irrigation requirements in connection with farm planning programs for areas where few data are available. A knowledge of consumptive use is necessary in planning farm irrigation system layouts and improving irrigation practices. Irrigation and consumptive water requirement data are used more and more widely by water superintendents as well as state, federal, and other agencies responsible for the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of multiple-purpose projects and by those responsible for guiding and assisting farmers in the solution of their irrigation problems. This release covers the procedures used to estimate irrigation water requirements on a farm or on a project. Irrigation application efficiencies are discussed briefly. Procedures for measuring losses in existing farm distribution and project conveyance systems and for estimating losses in such systems as may be proposed are included.