River GeoDSS for Agroenvironmental Enhancement of Colorado’s Lower Arkansas River Basin. II: Evaluation of Strategies
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 136, Issue 2
Abstract
Research conducted at the field and regional scales in the Lower Arkansas River (LAR) Valley of Colorado has identified water management alternatives with potential for enhancing agroenvironmental conditions in the basin by reducing waterlogging and soil salinity, salt loadings to the river, and nonbeneficial evapotranspiration in the irrigated stream-aquifer system. The LAR geospatial decision support system (GeoDSS), presented in a companion paper as a customized version of the generalized River GeoDSS, is applied to the evaluation of the feasibility and performance of water management strategies at the basin scale. The LAR GeoDSS allows comparative evaluation of management options for improving irrigation efficiency, minimizing water shortages, and improving water quality at selected control points by augmenting groundwater return flows through dynamic regulation of reservoir releases to abide by legal and administrative constraints on river operations. Results show that conditions favorable to increased agricultural productivity and water conservation can be accommodated, along with the benefits of improved river water quality through reduction of excess irrigation recharge and canal seepage and augmented subsurface drainage, without violating existing water rights and the Colorado-Kansas Interstate Compact Agreement.
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Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge the financial support and cooperation provided by the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District, the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, the Colorado Water Institute, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Also, the valuable cooperative assistance of more than 120 Arkansas River Valley landowners, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Division 2 Office of the Colorado Division of Water Resources, the Pueblo Subdistrict Office of the USGS, and the USDA Farm Services Agency are highly appreciated. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the writers and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. government.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 136 • Issue 2 • March 2010
Pages: 190 - 200
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 2, 2008
Accepted: Feb 13, 2009
Published online: Jul 11, 2009
Published in print: Mar 2010
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