California Growers Face Groundwater Restrictions
March 15, 2021 In the wake of one of the state’s worst droughts in modern history, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) became law in California in 2014. It’s intended to ensure better local and regional management of groundwater use, with the overall goal being sustainable groundwater management by 2042.
The state’s growers will face increasing pressure to justify their water usage, and depending on their location, could face tough restrictions. Irrigation suppliers are of course very familiar with the law, so we asked them how they can help growers, and what advice they might offer. Here’s a sampling of their responses:
• DOUG ANALLA, SENIOR MARKETING MANAGER, DAVIS INSTRUMENTS
Monitoring soil moisture levels allows growers to charge lower levels and build health when water is available; then cut back to, but not beyond, lower levels of irrigation needed for fruit growth. Davis weather stations allow them to monitor evapotranspiration (ET), and thus replenishment, and rain received on site. Start with a Davis weather station for ET, frost, and effective weather monitoring, for a low startup cost. Then expand to soil moisture monitoring, then irrigation monitoring, and beyond as budget permits.
• BRIAN BOURBONNAIS, DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING, IRROMETER
We provide soil moisture monitoring tools that help growers improve their water use efficiency. The data for this can be easily accessed on our IRROcloud platform from any mobile device or it can be simply downloaded directly to a laptop for a deeper dive into the data. Don’t wait for drought conditions to get worse, adapt now with simple and affordable tools to minimize future risks.
• CURTIS LUTJE, GENERAL MANAGER, LAUREL, AG & WATER
Keep close tabs on your water supply. Play ball with your district if you can help distribute water during wet years and be as efficient as you can during dry years. The best metric of success may start to be crop per drop, not total yield.
• JOHN ROWLEY, ROTATOR SPRINKLER PRODUCT MANAGER, NELSON IRRIGATION
Start preparing for water shortages now. We suggest that each of the following be considered:
- Hydraulic valves with solenoids for automation and with pressure controls
- Wireless automation of the control valves with pressure and flow monitors
- Replacing and upgrading micro sprinklers that don’t flow-regulate, that no longer flow-regulate accurately or that don’t flow-regulate at low pressure.
- Testing and then replacing drip hose that no longer flow-regulates accurately.
- Improving filtration systems in which high amounts of labor are used to unplug emission devices.
• BEN SMITH, TECHNICAL SALES SUPPORT SPECIALIST, SEMIOS
We’ll help them set a precedent. By using better irrigation monitoring and control measures and ensuring proper documentation of these practices, growers are better able to defend their practices and maintain their rights to irrigate according to the needs of their crop. Don’t wait until the next drought to figure out how to irrigate better. It takes experimentation and improvement to get your practices right. You will want to know how to accomplish your goals before the difficulty of a drought or regulations direct your actions.
• NEIL SCHULTZ, GENERAL MANAGER, ALTRAC
There is an old adage: “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Prior to passage of the SGMA in 2014 most of California’s agricultural water use was off record. Irrigators were not required to measure, much less report, how much water they pumped from the ground. That has now changed, and local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies have issued their 2020 recommendations on the “safe yield” per acre-feet of well water available for each grower. There are estimates that 20% of farmland will go fallow while growers optimize their groundwater usage. Altrac makes it easier to connect flow meters and other sensors to your irrigation system in order to collect accurate usage data. Eventually water banking systems will develop to provide credits to growers who consume less than their safe yield allotments.
• BILL TERRY, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER, WATERPOINT
WaterPoint consults with growers using DIRT (Dynamic Irrigation Recommendation Technologies), beginning with a system that treats water electronically, and by using the growers’ existing, or WaterPoint’s field sensor measuring, monitoring, and automation devices, remotely monitor treated water’s enhanced percolation. Treated water more readily supplies plant demand in the swings of the global weather reality.
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