The irrigation efficiency trap: rational farm-scale decisions can lead to poor hydrologic outcomes at the basin scale

Frontiers in Environmental Science

Environmental Science

Sarah E. Null¹  Chloe B. Perel²  Andrea L. Holt²  Robert W. Van Kirk²  London O. Bernier²  Christina N. Morrisett³ 

[1] Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States;Henry’s Fork Foundation, Ashton, ID, United States;Henry’s Fork Foundation, Ashton, ID, United States;Department of Watershed Sciences, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States;

关键词: groundwater-surface water;    aquifer recharge;    Idaho;    Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer;    irrigation efficiency;    return flow;    reach gain;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fenvs.2023.1188139

 received in 2023-03-17, accepted in 2023-08-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Agricultural irrigation practices have changed through time as technology has enabled more efficient conveyance and application. In some agricultural regions, irrigation can contribute to incidental aquifer recharge important for groundwater return flows to streams. The Henrys Fork Snake River, Idaho (United States) overlies a portion of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, where irrigated agriculture has occurred for over a century. Using irrigator interviews, aerial and satellite imagery, and statistical streamflow analysis, we document the impact of farm-scale decisions on basin-scale hydrology. Motivated to improve economic efficiency, irrigators began converting from surface to center-pivot sprinkler irrigation in the 1950s, with rapid adoption of center-pivot sprinklers through 2000. Between 1978–2000 and 2001–2022, annual surface-water diversion decreased by 311 Mm3 (23%) and annual return flow to the river decreased by 299 Mm3 over the same period. Some reaches that gained water during 1978–2000 lost water to the aquifer during the later period. We use an interdisciplinary approach to demonstrate how individual farm-scale improvements in irrigation efficiency can cumulatively affect hydrology at the landscape scale and alter groundwater-surface water relationships. Return flows are an important part of basin hydrology in irrigated landscapes and we discuss how managed and incidental aquifer recharge can be implemented to recover return flows to rivers.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Morrisett, Van Kirk, Bernier, Holt, Perel and Null.