U.S. Water News Online
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Even after purchasing the latest
water-conserving center pivot
irrigation systems, some producers in the Texas panhandle reportedly
have reverted
to furrow irrigation in order to flood the triangular corners of
fields. This sort of
practice is the focus of a "tailwater blitz" being mounted by the
High Plains
Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 headquartered in
Lubbock.
"It really makes very little sense for a producer to purchase a
center pivot and then
continue to furrow irrigate the corners of a field," said district
assistant manager Ken
Carver. Furrow irrigating the corners of a field is only 60 percent
efficient, noted
Carver, "and then you have tailwater to deal with on top of that." It
would be far
more efficient, he added, for the producer to set aside the field
corners and not try to
farm them.
Recently, the High Plains district conducted an intensive effort
in four of its fifteen
counties to identify violations of the Texas tailwater law.
Irrigation water escaping
from the land on which it is produced is a violation of state law and
district
regulations. The investigation turned up some 50 violations. The High
Plains district
documents incidents of irrigation tailwater overflows with
photographs and written
reports and then sends notification of the problem to the landowner
or operator.
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