3-2 IAN Use Less Water

 Use less water on your crops, if you can. I’m David Sparks and I’ll tell you about that in a minute. I think it was 60 min. or one of those news shows that ran a very compelling and frightening story, backed by scientists, saying the world is running out of fresh water. Not everybody is to blame. Todd Wheeler’s from Paul, Idaho and he’s invented a water saving technology. “It’s a hydraulic reset shank that runs in a furrow that loosens up the dirt and an individual paddle wheel behind that’s got 5 arms off of it and as it rolls it pushes the arm down into the ground and then rolls over the top of it and  creates a dyke. With sprinkler irrigation and especially pivots, They put down so much water that if there’s any slope to the field at all, the water just runs down to the low spots. Every 24 inches this creates a dam and a reservoir so that the water doesn’t run down the corrugates. It stays right there and seeps into the ground so you get more even watering from your pivot.

 Another way to save water is to help growers grow crops needing less water. Here’s Extension Specialist Bob Hutmacher: “Growers need in the mix of crops that they grow is some that are high profit potential but are lower water use. If we can grow seed alfalfa under more severe deficit irrigation or switch over to drip irrigation then you can tighten up some of your water use and make it available for some of your other crops.”