Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Farm Connection
What if you don't live in any of those “drought” states, on Lake
Superior, in Georgia or in Alaska, or any other area with water prob-
lems? Water issues in the Midwest, the Southeast, California, and
beyond affect you, too. When the nation's breadbasket withers, so
does your pocketbook. If Midwestern farmers and Florida, Oregon,
and California producers and fruit growers don't have adequate
moisture or access to water to grow their crops, that means less
grain, less corn, less ethanol, fewer vegetables, smaller fruit crops,
and higher prices for everyone.
Although today's technology enables farmers to grow more
crops on less acreage, farming still takes water. The amount is “stag-
gering,” says Brad Rippey, an agricultural meteorologist in the
Offi ce of the Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), and an author of the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly
WATER FACTS
Here are some U.S. irrigation facts from the U.S.
Geological Survey:*
About 61 million acres were irrigated in 2005.
Withdrawals amounted to 128 billion gallons a day,
down about 8 percent from 2000 and about equal to
1970 levels.
The national average application rate was 2.35 acre-feet of water
per acre. One acre-foot equals the amount of water needed to
cover one acre with one foot of water.
California, Idaho, Colorado, and Montana combined accounted
for about half the total irrigation withdrawals.
Massachusetts had the highest application rate in the
United States—6.9 acre-feet of water per acre, “likely due to
water-management practices in the many cranberry bogs,” the
USGS report stated.
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*U.S. Geological Survey, “Estimated Use of Water in the United States,” 23, http://pubs.usgs
.gov/circ/1344/pdf/c1344.pdf.
