-Supplemtnt to Uncastor Famine, Saturday, October 19,1985
170
LANCASTER The drought
which has gripped eastern Penn
sylvania for the past year, was a
blessing as far as preventing
flooding from the rains of
Hurricane Gloria, according to
USDA Soil Conservation Service
officials.
Tim Murphy, SCS hydraulic
engineer, reports that the ex
tremely dry soil conditions per
mitted the soil to absorb much of
the rainfall in the southeastern
part of the state. According to
Murphy, rainfall was as heavy as a
Soybean
(Continued from Page 3)
one year was there a marked
difference in yield between the
partial and full irrigation treat
ments
Using the data collected, he
developed a water use curve for
full season soybeans and average
planting dates in southern
Delaware. Farmers are now ad
vised to use this curve as a guide to
soybean irrigation scheduling in
the state.
While it is not profitable to invest
in an irrigation system for
soybeans alone on Delmarva, the
engineer found that producers can
profit by irrigating soybeans in a
com/soybean rotation on sandy
loam or loamy sand soils if~a
system is bought for irrigating
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Drought prevented floods in Southeastern Pennsylvania
once-in-a-100-year storm, but
rainfall runoff was once-in-10-
years or lower in monitored
watersheds.
The east branch of the Bran
dywine Creek watershed had a
total of 6.2 inches of rain from
Gloria, 3.7 inches of which fell in 12
hours. The rainfall is a once-in-a
-70-year storm, but the runoff was
only a once-in-two-years amount.
Other southeastern watersheds
in the report were the Neshaminy
Creek, with total rainfall of 6.5
inches, a once-in-60-years event
irrigation
com.
Based on his findings, Ritter
concludes:
• For most years, full season
irrigation of soybeans will not
increase yields significantly over
irrigation from flowering to
maturity.
• Irrigating some soybean
varieties too much during early
vegetative growth stages may
cause excessive lodging.
• The peak water use rate for
soybeans on the Delmarva
peninsula is approximately 0.3
inch per day.
• A well used to. irrigate
soybeans on Delmarva must
deliver seven to eight gallons of
water per minute per acre.
High-Volume <■ /
Portable | <JH
Gross Cap.
3,000 to
24,000 lbs.
Variety
of Sizes
Made to Order
with a five-year runoff; the Little
Schuylkill River with 5.0 inches, a
once-in-20-years downpour with a
one-year runoff; and Kaercher
Creek (Berks County) with 5.0
inches of rainfall, or a once-in-20-
year event with a one-year runoff
rate.
Northeastern Pennsylvania was
a different story, noted Murphy.
The soil was not as dry and runoff
rates were higher. The result was
that numerous smaller streams
flooded, causing millions of dollars
in damages.
Five watersheds in the path of
Gloria’s heavy rains were
protected by USDA Soil Con
servation Service dams. Dams on
the Brodhead Creek, Martins
Creek, Greene-Dreher, tributaries
of the Lackawaxen River, and
Neshaminy Creek prevented over
one million dollars in flood
damages, added Stephen Kem
merle, SCS economist.
Of the nine monitored water
sheds in eastern Pennsylvania, the
most intensive rainfall was in the
:ile,
leal
OR
And
•om
Greene-Dreher drainage area in
Wayne, Pike, and Monroe Coun
ties. Murphy stated that a total of
7.5 inches of rain fell from Gloria
and 6.3 inches came in 12 hours. In
spite of the heavy rains, runoff
only reached the amount expected
once every eight years.
Murphy compared this to the
June 1972 Hurricane Agnes, which
resulted in record flooding over
much of the state. “In the case of
Agnes, the storm was preceded by
six weeks of above normal rainfall
ON THE GROW
and the ground was saturated.
Nearly all the rain that fell in
Flood Agnes became runoff,”
Murphy said.
Murphy added that another
favorable factor in the recent
storm was that rain fell at a
uniform the storm.
“It was lacking the heavy down
pours that make small streams
rise rapidly. The evenness of the
rain permitted the maximum
amount to soak into the ground,”
said Murphy. “For some areas,
Gloria was a good storm.”