Water Issues

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Water Issues

• Sally Lay
• Jason Jensen
• S. Kumagai
• Wesley Watson

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Water Topics

• Water Policy
• Ramifications of Irrigation
• Impacts from pollution and use
• Irrigation Systems

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General water usage

• General water use
• The average cost for water supplied to a home in
  the U.S. is about two dollars per 1,000/gal which
  equals 5 gallons for a penny.
• About 1 percent of the earths water is suitable
  for drinking.
• The average resident uses 100,000 gal/yr

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• Safe drinking water act The SDWA authorized the
• Wellhead Protection Program in 1986 to protect
  supplies of ground water used as public drinking
  water from contamination by chemicals and other
  hazards, including pesticides, nutrients, and
  other agricultural chemicals.

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• The program is based on the concept that
  land-use controls and other preventive measures
  can protect groundwater. As of December 1998, 45
  States have EPA-approved wellhead protection
  programs. The 1996 amendments to the SDWA have
  potential, though indirect, implications for
  agricultural producers

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Policy

• Environmental Quality Incentive Program
• Conservation Technical Assistance
• Conservation Compliance
• Conservation Reserve Program

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• Buffer Initiative
• Wetlands Reserve Program
• Small Watershed Program
• Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program

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• Nonpoint source Program
• National Estuary Program
• Clean Lakes Program
• Coastal Zone management Act

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Policy

• Wellhead Protection Program
• Comprehensive State Ground Water Protection
  Program
• Safe drinking Water Act

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Policy

• Great Lakes Program
• Chesapeake Bay Program
• Gulf Of Mexico Program
• Lake Champlain Basin Program

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• Water withdraws for public distribution systems
  increased by 48 percent from 1980-1995, which
  might be due to population increase of 50 percent
  and a shift to arid and warmer climates.

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Several approaches for protecting water quality
have been developed at the Federal and State
levels. These approaches use a variety of
incentive mechanisms for reducing pollution
discharges. Pollution from factories and other
point sources is controlled through regulations
and penalties. In contrast, policies and programs
for reducing pollution from agriculture and other
nonpoint sources are mostly based on voluntary
approaches providing education, technical, and
cost-sharing assistance.
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Federal Water Quality ProgramsAffecting
Agriculture in 1996EPA-Administered Programs

• Clean Water Act Programs
• Clean Lakes Program (Section 314)
• Nonpoint Source Program (Section 319)
• National Estuary Program (Section 320)
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
• (Section 402)
• Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs
• Regional Programs
• Safe Water Drinking Act
• Pesticide Programs
• Comprehensive State Ground-Water Protection
  Program

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EPA Programs Affecting Agriculture

• While Federal water quality laws tend to
  focus on point sources, they do not ignore
  nonpoint sources. The primary Federal law, the
  Clean Water Act (CWA), addresses both point and
  nonpoint source pollution. Point sources are
  controlled through enforceable mechanisms.
  Pollution from point sources is subject to
• technology-based controls, which consist of
  uniform, EPA-established standards of treatment
  that apply to certain industries and municipal
  sewage treatment facilities, and
• water quality-based controls where
  technology-based controls are not adequate to
  meet State water quality standards.

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USDA-Administered Programs

• Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP)
• Water Quality Incentives Projects (WQIP)
• Integrated Crop Management (ICM) Practice
• Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) Program
• Colorado River Salinity Control Program (CRSCP)
• Water Quality Program (WQP)
• Research and development
• Education, technical, and financial assistance
• Data base development and evaluation

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• Farm Bill Programs (1985 and 1990)
• Conservation Compliance
• Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
• Wetland Reserve Program (WRT)
• Integrated Farm Management Program
• Pesticide Record-Keeping
• Great Plains Conservation Program
• Small Watershed Program
• Resource Conservation and Development Program

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Lessons Learned from USDA Water Quality Programs

• Experience with programs such as the Model
  Implementation Program, Rural Clean Waters
  Program, and the Water Quality Program suggest
  some important factors that can enhance the
  performance of USDA efforts to protect water
  quality.
• Voluntary programs are likely to be most
  successful in areas where farmers recognize that
  agriculture contributes to severe local pollution
  problems such as groundwater impairment.

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• Voluntary programs are likely to be successful
  when recommended practices generate higher
  returns.
• Cost-effectiveness is enhanced when program
  activities are targeted to watersheds where
  agriculture is the primary source of water
  quality impairment.
• Flexible cost-share programs to encourage
  producers to adopt certain management practices
  are more efficient than those with fixed rates
  and limited lists of supported practices

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• Local research on the economic and physical
  performance of recommended practices can improve
  adoption rates of those practices.
• Interaction with non-USDA agencies,
  organizations, and local businesses within a
  watershed is important.
• More attention to and resources for water quality
  monitoring and project evaluation could help
  determine the cost effectiveness of alternative
  practices and assist in the development of
  targeting strategies for program improvement.
• Source Ribaudo, 1998.

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Irrigation

• Annual renewable supplies in surface streams and
  aquifers total roughly 1,500 mil acre-feet per
  year
• One quarter is withdrawn for use in homes, farms,
  and industry
• 7 percent is actually used
• Agriculture is largest water use
• Irrigated agriculture contributes almost half the
  total value of crop sales on just 16 percent of
  total cropland harvested.

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Irrigation

• Farm and ranch irrigation survey is the sole data
  source for acres irrigated by source of water
  that also collects additional information, such
  as costs.
• A groundwater-irrigated farm on average will have
  more than three wells, with other 9 percent of
  the farms having 10 or more wells.
• On average more than 13 million households use
  private wells for their water supply.

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Cost of water

• On average the cost of on-farm surface water is
  likely the lowest.
• Off-farm water is supplied to more then 83,000
  farm nationwide, 2/3 of these acres are
  concentrated in 6 states (CA. WA. WY.CO. MT. ID.)
  Based on acreage not water service.

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Irrigation

• This system has little financial incentive to
  conserve because charges are assessed
  independently of the amount of the water
  allotment used.
• The price irrigators pay for water is usually
  associated with the expense of developing and
  providing the resource and may not reflect the
  full social cost of its use.

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Irrigation cost

• An alternative to this approach could be set
  administratively, however this would require
  precise adjustments in water prices. Coupled with
  localized nature of the hydrologic systems and
  the externalities associated with water use and
  reuse would make this method unsound.

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Clean Water Act

• Water quality in terms of designated beneficial
  uses with numeric and narrative criteria that
  support each use
• Physical
• Chemical
• Biological
• Allows States and tribes to set their own water
  quality

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Clean Water Act

• Discharges of toxic pollutions have been reduced
  billons pounds per year
• Reductions in pollutions have improved the health
  of aquatic ecosystem
• BUT!!
• There are still many area where is polluted
• From Agricultural lands and other nonpoint source
  States

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Agricultural Implications for Policy

• How water quality changes with time, and to study
  how human activities and natural factors affect
  water quality
• Agricultural land
• Stream
• Ex Mississippi river
• Ground water

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Agricultural Pollution and Economic Impacts

• Sediment Damage
• Disturbing the soil through tillage and
  cultivation and leaving it without vegetative
  cover may increase the rate of soil erosion
• The largest contamination of surface water
• Causes various damage to water resources and to
  water uses

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Agricultural Pollution and Economic Impacts

• Nutrient Damage
• N and P can cause quality problems
• Nitrate
• Phosphate
• Pesticide Damage (pests, fungus, and disease)
• Harm freshwater and marine organisms

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Agricultural Pollution and Economic Impacts

• Mineral Damage
• Dissolved salt and other minerals
• Increase water treatment cost
• Force development of alternative water supplies
• Reduce the life span
• Pathogen Damage
• Animal waste can cause several disease

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Value of Clean Water

• Economic value of changes of water quality is
  important
• Reduce pollution from agricultural production
• Few studies have looked at the costs of water
  pollution and the benefit of pollution reduction
• It costs tens of billions dollars!!

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Irrigation Water Management

• Irrigation Accounts for 34 of the water usage
• Irrigated Crop Production
• Maintain farm profitability
• Reduce the impact of irrigated water quality
• Enhancing producer net returns

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Irrigation

• Agriculture uses the most water through the
  practice of irrigation
• 100 million gallons per year, per acre of
  farmland
• Accounts for 40 of fresh water withdrawals

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Irrigation Application Systems

• Gravity-Flow Systems
• Distribute water across the field.
• Open ditches
• Aboveground pipe
• Underground pipe
• Water runs one-eighth to one-half mile.
• Pipeline conveyance systems
• Reduces the amount of water lost to non-crop
  vegetation

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Irrigation Application Systems

• Pressurized Application Systems and Practices
• Pipeline conveyance
• Center pivot
• Linear or Lateral-move
• Hand-move
• Solid set
• Big gun system
• Side-roll Wheel-move

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Improved Systems and Practices

• Improved center pivots and lateral-move
• Low-energy precision application (LEPA)
• Low-flow irrigation systems

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Center-pivot Technology

• Low-pressure center-pivot
• Linear-move
• Low-energy precision application

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Summation

• There is no one easy answer to the problems that
  plague water quality and use.
• The best solution is for the individual to better
  inform themselves and others about programs,
  problems, and possible solutions.