Modeling Acequia Water Use in the Rio Hondo Watershed

This professional project focuses on the development of a systems model for
the Rio Hondo watershed. The Rio Hondo simulation models water availability, crop
productivity and crop market value across five climate change scenarios, five
alternative crop distributions, and three irrigation practices. Under flood
irrigation, the volume of the aquifer stabilizes, while under drip irrigation the
aquifer volume diminishes by as much as 20%. Productivity is only heightened in the
second drip irrigation scenario where the excess water is re-allocated by farmers in
the region. In this instance, market value of crops increases by anywhere from 1.5
to 4 times the market value of crops in the flood scenario and the first drip
scenario.