The Cross Section, Volume 25, Number 4, April 1979 Page: 3
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April, 1979 THE CROSS SECTION Page 3
USDA ... continued from page 1
the prospects for the future and the
degree of federal involvement, if any,
that is necessary.
"In response to this request, we are
submitting as an attachment to this
paper, a summary of a study entitled,
'A Study of the Volume of Water in
Storage in the Ogallala Aquifer With
Projections of Future Reserves.' This
paper contains county-by-county esti-
mates of the volume of water in stor-
age in the Ogallala Aquifer in 1974
and estimates of volumes of water
which will be in storage by decade
periods from 1980 through the year
2020 for each of the 45 counties under-
lain by the Ogallala Aquifer in the
High Plains of Texas. Also being sub-
mitted as attachments to this paper are
copies of colored maps which illu-
strate: 1) 'Estimated Saturated Thick-
ness of the Ogallala Aquifer in 1974'
and as projected for the year 2000; 2)
'Potential Capacity of the Ogallala
Aquifer to Yield Water to Wells in
1974' and as projected for the year
2000; 3) 'Estimated Pumping Lifts of
the Ogallala Aquifer for 1974' and as
projected for the year 2000.
"Total volume of water estimates for
the 45 county area are as follows:
1974-340 million acre feet; 1980--
293 million acre feet; 1990--241 mil-
lion acre feet; 2000-196 million acre
feet; 2010-158 million acre feet; and
2020-127 million acre feet.
"We feel that the results of this study
might now be somewhat pessimistic
due to the drastic increases in energy
prices and their effects on pumping
cost and the increased efforts our irri-
gators have made to conserve their
water supplies.
"We base this observation on a com-
parison of water level measurements
made during the past ten (10) years in
a network of approximately 800 wells
in our water district. Records from150-300 percent. Another example is
irrigation pumping fuel which has in-
creased in price by 400 percent or
more during the same time period. It
appears now that opportunities for our
farmers to have surplus income for use
on water and soil conservation prac-
tices will be limited. Also for the rec-
ord, I would like to point out that the
return on dollars invested on water and
soil conservation are very small as
compared to returns on money invest-
ed in certificate of deposits at banks.
Fortunately, most landowners/opera-
tors view soil and water conservation
efforts as an investment in future
generations, not as a good return on
their dollars.
"We therefore recommend that the
life of the Great Plains Program be
extended and adequately funded. Also,
we recommend that the current an-
nual agricultural conservation programs
be continued and funding be in-
creased.
"Through these proven programs
(ACP and Great Plains Programs) and
through individual effort, much has
been accomplished in the High Plains
area to conserve water. We would like
to review with you briefly some of the
effort that has been made by High
Plains irrigators to conserve water in
our area.
1) They have installed approximately
22,000 irrigation sprinkler systems
which are utilized to irrigate ap-
proximately 1,700,000 acres of land.
2) They have installed and utilize al-
most 4,000 irrigation reuse (tail-
water) systems to capture and pre-
vent the escape of irrigation tail-
water from their farms.
3) They have installed more than 3,000
playa lake pump-back systems to
recover and utilize rainfall runoff
water collected in playa lakes in the
area in an effort to conserve theirabout ways to limit use of groundwater
through taxation, monitoring and
metering and so on. Most of us on
the Secretary's staff never saw that
paper. It was an internal staff paper
looking at all the options concerning
groundwater. Some of the options
were pretty ridiculous. They never had
any credibility around here but they
sure did get attention out in the coun-
try. So we want to let folks know that
those things didn't have any credibility
and answer questions.'
"With all due respects to Larry, we
can't keep from remembering past
experiences with other federal agencies
where we have been assured that our
fears were unfounded concerning pro-
posed rules and regulations at hearings
and later found, to our sorrow, that
our fears were in fact quite justified
when the final rules and regulations
were published.
"Also, on page 9, paragraph 4, of the
review material we were provided for
today's meeting, in reference to the
Southern Great Plains - the material
states; 'both the off-farm application
efficiency (average 80 to 100 percent)
and the on-farm application efficiency
(average 50 to 70 percent) for irriga-
tion in this area are higher than na-
tional averages.'
"We are very pleased with our effi-
ciency and especially pleased that you
are aware of it; however, we are striv-
ing to improve these efficiencies.
"The state conservationist with the
Soil Conservation Service in Texas has
established a three-man technical team
to serve the High Plains and Southern
High Plains of Texas. This is an irriga-
tion water management team whose
principle objective will be to become
experts in the field of on-farm irriga-
tion water management and efficiency,
and to also provide training to Soil
Conservation Service personnel and
others to enable better assistance tofarm irrigators within this area.
"To support this increased emphasis
by the SCS on water conservation, and
to achieve our own objectives, the
High Plains Underground Water Con-
servation District has recently signed
an agreement with the local Soil Con-
servation Service area office to work
with local irrigators to help them im-
prove their 'on-farm' efficiencies. This
Water District-SCS cooperative effort
is the first of its kind to our knowl-
edge. We are constructing a 'Field
Water Conservation Laboratory' which
in essence is a trailer equipped with
all the necessary equipment to con-
duct on-farm water efficiency tests.
The tests will begin at the well and
follow the water into the soil and/or
through the field to determine the
efficiency of the application. Sugges-
tions for improvements will be made
to the irrigator if the tests indicate that
improvements can be made. Local SCS
and Water District personnel working
together will provide this service to
local farmers on a voluntary request
basis.
"We believe that these programs
have a great deal of potential and
would invite you to monitor the suc-
cess of these programs for possible
introduction in other areas.
"Also, I would like to point out an-
other recent water conservation action
by our Water District. This action con-
sists of the purchase of about $44,000
worth of research equipment for use
by our local experimental station ex-
clusively in 'water conservation re-
search.'
"The above mentioned items should
demonstrate local involvement and
interest in promoting water conserva-
tion. This involvement and interest
should demonstrate to you that we do
not need 'forced' conservation pro-
grams or federal legislation to force us
to conserve water."these wells indicate a ten (10) year
average change of 1.45 feet per year
against this past year's average change
of 1.26 feet. This decrease in the aver-
age decline rate of the water table
occurred during one of the driest years
on record for our area.
"In response to the Secretary's ques-
tion as to the degree of federal in-
volvement, if any, that is necessary ...
"We believe that federal involvement
in water conservation should ONLY be
on a voluntary cost-share basis with
landowners/operators in our area.
"An examination of your (USDA's)
records will show that High Plains
landowners/operators have utilized an-
nually all available federal funds for
soil and water conservation practices
under the Great Plains Program and
Agricultural Conservation Programs
(ACP) in nearly every county in this
area.
"Also for the record, we would like
to point out that a large portion of the
water conservation effort which has
been accomplished here in the High
Plains of Texas has been completed at
total landowner/operator expense with
no help from the federal government.
These private water conservation ef-
forts will, in all probability, decline due
to the current 'cost price' squeeze on
our farmers. This squeeze has become
critical in the Texas High Plains during
the past four years. This squeeze came
about partially as a result of increased
production costs such as in the price
of tractor fuel which has increased byunderground water supplies.
4) They have installed and utilize al-
most 20,000 miles of underground
pipelines to prevent loss or waste
of underground water to seepage
and evaporation while irrigating
about 4,250,000 acres. Additionally,
they utilize another 5,000 to 10,-
000+ miles of portable aluminum
pipe for the same purposes (a reli-
able estimate of the miles of pipe
in use is extremely difficult to ob-
tain due to the mobility of the
pipe).
5) They have leveled more than 200,-
000 acres of land and bench leveled
40,000 acres to make maximum use
of their precipitation.
"These five major water conservation
practices listed above are only a few
of a long list of conservation methods
being employed by the people of the
High Plains of Texas; however, the
magnitude of each of these efforts
should demonstrate that the people of
the High Plains of Texas have for a
long time been thinking and practicing
conservation and that the current ACP
and Great Plains Programs are being
utilized effectively.
"We were relieved when we read
Larry Meyers statements to Duane
Howell, made while discussing today's
meeting, that were published in the
March 22, 1979, morning edition of
the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Mr.
Meyers was quoted as saying that 'one
thing we want to do is lay to rest some
of the fears that have been stirred up
by a discussion paper which talkedPOLICIES... continued from page 2
State Policy
I. We urge adequate funding to en-
able the Texas Department of Water
Resources and other state agencies to
perform their proper functions in the
furtherance of a sound water program.
II. We urge all regulatory or action
agencies of the state to consider and
be mindful of the economic and social
as well as the environmental impact of
their decisions or actions affecting
major water projects, including the
consideration of reasonable alterna-
tives.
III. We urge that the Legislature con-
tinue to appropriate funds to the vari-
ous state agencies and institutions to
support the research programs neces-
sary to determine:
(b) more efficient means for use
of water to conserve our limited
water resources.
(c) constraints and solutions re-
lated to interbasin transfer of water.
VI. We urge that the Texas Depart-
ment of Water Resources request and
actively seek adequate appropriations
to accelerate the evaluation of opera-
tional weather modification projects as
a means to more fully develop our
water resources and to incorporate the
results of this evaluation into state
water planning.
ViII. We consider that effective con-
trol and management of the state's
groundwater resources can best be ac-
complished through establishment, bylocal option, of local districts for such
purposes, and that a general law of
statewide applicability is not necessary
or desirable as a means of coping with
groundwater management. However,
the implementation of conjunctive
management of surface and ground-
water resources in some areas of Texas
would provide for more adequate, de-
pendable and lower cost water sup-
plies, and for the more efficient use
and conservation of both surface and
groundwater supplies, provided that
the conjunctive management agency
be a local one and that it be structured
to give equitable consideration to the
use and management of both water
supply sources and to the unique
properties and potentialities of each.
IX. In view of the continuing danger
of groundwater contamination associ-
ated with oil and gas exploration and
development, we urge that the Texas
Railroad Commission continue their
surveillance of these activities and their
programs for insuring adequate protec-
tion of the quality of the state's ground
and surface waters.
X. We urge the adoption of legisla-
tion authorizing the creation of the
necessary water authorities for the pur-
pose of guaranteeing the repayment
cost of and/or acting as wholesale con-
tractors of imported waters for resale
to users within the areas of delivery
through the Texas Water System where
no other existing agency can perform
these functions.April, 1979
T HE CR O SS S EC T IO N
Page 3
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High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 25, Number 4, April 1979, periodical, April 1979; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1533049/m1/3/?q=%22Landscape+and+Nature+-+Weather+and+Climate%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.