| Title: | Assessment of alternative agricultural land use options for extending the availability of the Ogallala Aquifer in the northern high plains of Texas |
| Authors: | Chen, Y., G.W. Marek, T.H. Marek, J.E. Moorhead, K.R. Heflin, D.K. Brauer, P.H. Gowda and R. Srinivasan |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Journal: | Hydrology |
| Volume (Issue): | 5(4) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 53 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/hydrology5040053 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic only |
| Primary Application Category: | irrigation impacts or irrigation BMP scenarios |
| Secondary Application Category: | groundwater and/or soil water impacts/processes |
| Watershed Description: | USDA-ARS research site located at Bushland, Texas, U.S. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | |
| Abstract: | The Ogallala Aquifer has experienced a continuous decline in water levels due to decades
of irrigation pumping with minimal recharge. Corn is one of the major irrigated crops in the
semi-arid Northern High Plains (NHP) of Texas. Selection of less water-intensive crops may
provide opportunities for groundwater conservation. Modeling the long-term hydrologic impacts
of alternative crops can be a time-saving and cost-effective alternative to field-based experiments.
A newly developed management allowed depletion (MAD) irrigation scheduling algorithm for
Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used in this study. The impacts of irrigated farming,
dryland farming, and continuous fallow on water conservation were evaluated. Results indicated
that simulated irrigation, evapotranspiration, and crop yield were representative of the measured
data. Approximately 19%, 21%, and 32% reductions in annual groundwater uses were associated
with irrigated soybean, sunflower, and sorghum, respectively, as compared to irrigated corn. On
average, annual soil water depletion was more than 52 mm for dryland farming scenarios. In contrast,
only 18 mm of soil water was lost to evaporation annually, for the long-term continuous fallow
simulation. The fallow scenario also showed 31 mm of percolation for aquifer recharge. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | SWAT; evapotranspiration; irrigation; soil water content; groundwater recharge; crop
yield; lysimeter; management allowed depletion |