Waterr

Wyatt Watt
Jon Oreilly
Period ½

The Wonderful World of Water

Necessary to every living creature is water; it makes up every organic thing on our planet. Being a natural right every living thing deserves a steady supply of fresh water. In this modern age of abundance came the cultivation of water distribution known as irrigation. Giving man the power to control where crops grow, how animals live, and to give ourselves easily accessible water. Though techniques have advanced vigorously over the years, with an ever expanding population our thirst for water has become greater than ever. Irrigation must again advance and develop to sustain our populations and reduce negative side effects currently plaguing our system.
Fresh water only accounts for 3% of the total water on earth, and of that percentage only 1% is accessible for use. The majority of this slight amount of water is used for agriculture. Farms, especially ones that follow an industrial layout, are subject to chronic over-watering because of their use of overhead watering systems. Overhead watering is the standard in which the majority of farms irrigate their crop. These systems spray large quantities of water over hundreds of acres right onto the surface of the soil. In doing this frequently at all hours of the day, a large unknown amount of water is wasted to evaporation. From an agricultural standpoint these systems also do not effectively irrigate crops roots deep down in the soil, so overwatering happens daily. In the bread-basket of America the Midwest where the majority of our nation’s corn, soybean, and wheat crop comes from, effects of overwater are already being seen. These states use water pumped up from the Ogallala Aquifer, the largest aquifer in North America. The aquifer spans 800 by 400 miles across the Great Plains being one of the largest in the world. This aquifer provides 30% of the nation’s groundwater and 27% of the irrigated land in North America sit right on top of it. Currently the aquifer is being depleted at the rate of 12 billion cubic meters per year. Runoff and water table depletion also affect the aquifer meaning that the aquifer could become to low or too contaminated anytime in the next hundred years at this rate.
San Diego county and surrounding Southern California rely on water from the Colorado River due west of the aforementioned aquifer. It supplies water to 27 million people, businesses, factories and farms. Agricultural operations use 80% of the water diverted from the Colorado. Recently climate change has resulted in prolonged winters in the Rocky Mountains making the amount of runoff more insufficient each year. It is estimated that if climate change continues at the rate it is going the Colorado River could only be able to provide adequate water supply 60% of its baseline availability by 2050. This could cause massive water shortages to the millions of people that rely on it daily. If agriculture continues it’s over watering trend food prices would sky-rocket. This is exactly why these inefficient irrigation systems need to go.
In our Senior Garden we use a small scale T-tape watering system which uses a drip irrigation technique that slowly releases water into the soil, drip by drip. Effectively, the water seeps into the ground for plants to absorb though it uses much less water and significantly reduces water lost to evaporation. Systems identical to this exist for large-scale farming operations, on an industrial scale and a corporate budget. These setups are not only effective but inexpensive, considering the subsidies that large farms receive every year implementing T-tape or similar products would not be a financial burden.
Over watering coupled with poor drainage causes water to run off of an agricultural area into residential or natural areas far from the farm itself. This process causes erosion and contamination of natural ecosystems. Often times runoff is unavoidable as it is waters natural tendency to travel downhill into larger bodies. Excessive irrigation can concentrate pesticides, nutrients, disease-carrying microorganisms, and salts all of which impact water quality in the top layer of soil. Pollution from runoff from this soil is the leading source of compromised water quality to freshwater lakes and rivers, and also a major contributor to ground water contamination like the Ogallala Aquifer. These ecosystems can also be protected by the use of drip tape and other effective watering systems, as it is becoming apparent that the state of our natural world it being severely effected by our agricultural
We have succeeded on a small scale at solving large real world issues here in our class garden. Proving that responsible and surprisingly effective irrigation systems exist, means that there are solutions to our water crisis. Implementing these techniques would protect our environment and our future.


Sources
Gleick, "Earth's water distribution". USGS. 10/25/09 .
California's Water Crisis - A Conundrum with No Simple Solution. Julie Mitchell. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. .
Energy-Saving Tips: On-Farm Irrigation. California Farm Bureau Federation. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. .
Griffis, David. "Proper Irrigation Methods." Proper Irrigation Methods. David Griffis. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. .