River Hydrograph Retransmission Functions of Irrigated Valley Surface Water–Groundwater Interactions
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 12
Abstract
Storage and release functions of western U.S. traditional river valley irrigation systems may counteract early and rapid spring river runoff associated with climate variation. Along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico, we instrumented a 20-km-long irrigated valley to measure water balance components from 2005 to 2007. Hydrologic processes of the system were incorporated into a system dynamics model to test scenarios of changed water use. Of river water diverted into an earthen irrigation canal system, some was consumed by crop evapotranspiration (7.4%), the rest returned to the river as surface return flow (59.3%) and shallow groundwater return flow that originated as seepage from canals (12.1%) and fields (21.2%). The modeled simulations showed that the coupled surface water irrigation system and shallow aquifer act together to store water underground and then release it to the river, effectively retransmitting river flow until later in the year. Water use conversion to nonirrigation purposes and reduced seepage from canals and fields will likely result in higher spring runoff and lower fall and winter river flow.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the staff of the Alcalde Sustainable Agriculture Science Center for their invaluable assistance with this research. This study was supported by the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station and by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture under Agreement No. UNSPECIFIED2005-35102-16346. Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract No. UNSPECIFIEDDE-AC04-94AL85000.
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 12 • December 2010
Pages: 823 - 835
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 28, 2009
Accepted: May 14, 2010
Published online: May 17, 2010
Published in print: Dec 2010
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