CB-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 16, 1993
DER Says Water ,
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
If 1993 signals another drought
year, and low flow rates are dec
lared on the Susquehanna River,
then irrigation in some places may
have to cpase.
That’s one of the reasons Pen
nsylvania could use a statewide
Water Management Plan, in order
to put in place procedures and poli
cies for water use and to be pre
pared in case a drought such as
happened two years ago doesn’t
send agriculture reeling.
Tom Fiddler, Department of
Environmental Resources (DER)
field operations deputy secretary,
spoke about the proposed manage
ment plan drawn up recently.
Although irrigation only makes up
two percent of the entire water use
in the state, it comes at a time when,
river levels can be dangerously
low, and when other industries are
also forced to cut back.
Fiddler spoke at a meeting on
water law, water rights, and irriga
tion recently at the Farm and Home
Center. About 75 farmers and irri
gation industry representatives
attended the meeting.
Low flow rare
However, historically, accord
ing to meeting coordinator Leon
Ressler, extension environmental
specialist, low flow rales on the
river have occurred rarely, perhaps
twice over the past six decades
once in the mid-1960s and once
during the Dust Bowl years in the
19?0s. The remainder low flow
rates have occured in the fall, when
irrigation is not necessary for most
crops.
But the state still lives under
riparian doctrine, which declares
that a landowner is allowed to
draw whatever amounts are ‘ ‘rea
sonable” from water under or next
to the land owned. But what is rea
sonable, especially when agricul
tural systems (such as poultry)
draw so much water?
Fiddler said that only the Sus
quehanna River Basin Compact,
drawn up in January 1971 through
cooperating states and federal gov
ernment, currently enforces poli
cies to preserve water. But Pen
nsylvania could draw its own
water management plan using ele
ments from the existing Maryland
plan.
Maryland plan
According to Dr. Herb Brodie,
Dr. Al Jarrett, Penn State
terns specialist, spoke about the use of drip Irrigation rather'
than overhead or sprinkle Irrigation to meet crop needs.
University of Maryland ag engi
neer, the Maryland plan allowed
five years to pass since its incep
tion in July 1988 for fanners to
apply for a permit. If a farm uses
more than 10,000 gallons of water
a day on a year average, the farm
must have a permit
Maryland’s drought manage
ment plan, according to Brodie,
places human and health services
(hospitals, fire stations, etc.) as top
priority for access to water resour
ces. Farming is next in line, for irri
gation, livestock, and food proces
sors. Everybody else is last.
Putting farmers in priority order
to use the water during drought
crises has made farmer’s happier,
according to the ag engineer. The
five-year grace period ends in July
this year. After that time, fanners
will have a more difficult and com
plex task obtaining a permit,
including posting and advertise
ment for intended use and going
through public meetings.
Comply with cutbacks
If a drought occurs this year,
according to Dave Heicher, prog
ram specialist with the Susquehan
na River Basin Commission
(SRBC), during low flow periods
industry and farmers must comply
with cutbacks. Farmers are going
to have to deal with this if the cut-
, if a drought occurs this
year, according to Dave
Helcher, program specialist
with the Susquehanna River
Basin Commission (SRBC),
during low flow periods
industry and farmers must
comply with cutbacks.
Not Crisis , Management Needed
its own water management
plan using elements from the
existing Maryland plan.
According to Dr. Herb Brodie,
University of Maryland ag
engineer, the Maryland plan
allowed five years to pass
since its inception in July
1988 for farmers to apply for a
permit.
backs occur during the irrigation
season.
Under current SRBC guide
lines, farmers are allowed to with
draw up to 100,000 gallons per day
during any 30-day period. A series
of meetings last year reviewed the
plans drawn up by the commis
sion, and suspended all fees for ag
use. The SRBC does not charge
any water use fee for farming oper
ations. The SRBC “is not inter
ested in extracting money,” said
Heicher. “We’re interested in
making sure the water is there.”
This year, meetings will resume
to discuss policies regarding farm
ing and irrigation and implement
ing overall water management
plans, according to the SRBC
representative.
For now, according to Ressler,
there is not going to be an easy
answer for this complex problem.
If a drought occurs, it won’t mean
farmers won’t be able to irrigate
during low flow periods. It will
just mean deciding who will.
Efficient use
That’s all the more reason for
farmers to closely examine how to
make more efficient use of the
resource, according to Dr. A 1 Jar
rett, Penn State ag engineer and
irrigation systems specialist.
Jarrett spoke about the use of
drip irrigation rather than overhead
or sprinkle irrigation to meet crop
needs.
“I teach some turf irrigation to
some students who wish to become
golf course superintendents,” he
said. “There’s a* concept within
the turf industry which I think is
just horrendous.' They basically
say you turn on the irrigation sys
tem for 15 minuts each day, com
pletely independent of what the
system is doing and what the soil
needs are and what the crop needs
are and what the system will put
down. Hopefully we can get bey
ond that.”
It means looking closely at a
complex equation involving sever
al factors, including:
• Evapotranspiration, or ET.
This is die loss of water from the
soil because of evaporation and
transpiration from the plants. The
“ET factor” is often published in
newspapers. If not, get in touch
with your local extension service
to find out what the ET factor is,
Tom Fiddler, Department of Environmental Resources
(OER) field operations deputy secretary, spoke about the
proposed management plan drawn up recently.
because this will help plan exactly
what water loss is occuring and
how much you need to irrigate.
• Crop coefficient. This is simp
ly what amounts of certain kind of
crop needs to maintain maximum
growth in its cycle. This is also
available from your local exten
sion office.
• Soil type. Each farm has a spe
cific soil type with specific water
needs. Jarrett said needs depend on
each individual site and crop
planted.
• Other factors, such as solar
radiation, date, time, and precipita
tion factors, such as occur during
the summer season, with local
thunderstorms and other rain
events.
All these elements combine to
produce exacdy what type of
watering system is needed, how
much water to put down, and
when.
Jarrett emphasized the impor
tance of conserving water by using
drip irrigation, which places water
exactly where the plant needs it in
the right amount. This saves water
for many types of vegetable and
fruit crops, because overhead or
sprinkle irrigation wastes a great
deal of water.
Wool,
Asked To File Receipts
LEBANON (Lebanon Co.
The' Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service (ASCS) re
minds wool and mohair producers
to file their 1992 sales receipts by
January 31 so that the documents
can be used in determining the na
tional average market price.
Although the deadline for filing
1992 receipts to qualify for a 1992
price support payment is March 1,
ASCS encourages wool and mo
hair producers to file in January
because USDA’s National Agri
cultural Statistics Service needs
the data in February to compute
wool and mohair market prices.
“Since national average market
About 30 percent of the water is
wasted in well-designed sprinkle
irrigation. In drip, five or
less is wasted. “You do a better
job with drip irrigation,” he said.
But even in the best of years, the
water can lack necessary moisture
at critical times. The goal is to keep
the moisture content in the root
zone below field capacity (satura
tion) and above the halfway point
(moisture in 50 percent of soil
profile).
There are soil moisture sensors,
such as tensiometers, available to
measure how much is available to
the plant, available from the irriga
tion industry.
For most farmers who use irri
gation, it remains complicated
because plants, soils, and precipi
tation differ site to site, according
to Jarrett.
“We can generalize to death
and just figure on .2 inches (of
water) a day, but we’re not going to
do a good job of managing our
resource, and that is water,” he
said. “Most of the time you’re
going to overirrigate that’s bet
ter than underirrigating, but if we
have drought problems, then
you’re very sensitive to wasting
thatresource. You don’t want to do
that.”
Mohair Producers
prices arc the basis for wool and
mohair payment rates, producers
are urged to submit their sales
documents to us at least by the end
of January,” said Jenifer K. Min
nich, county executive director.
She reminds producers that “ac
tively engaged in farming” and
“person” determinations must be
made to be eligible for a payment.
Also, producers are required to
certify that they are in compliance
with highly erodible land and wet
land conservation provisions.
“We encourage producers to
bring in their 1992 sales receipts
as soon as possible,” Minnich
said.