Filtration Facts

Data Showing Groundwater Use For Irrigation Yields Surprising Results

  

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A reported 664 U.S. farms stopped irrigating acreage with groundwater in 2008, due to what owners said was a "shortage of groundwater". That was less than the 1,082 farms that made the same claims 5 years earlier. These are findings compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey and published in the July 2010 edition of the Water Well Journal magazine, a publication of the National Groundwater Association.

Combined with data from the 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture, the 2008 statistics reveal some interesting trends. These include:

• Of the 664 farms which said they had stopped irrigating, 87% were in either Idaho (273), Arizona (218), or South Carolina (88).
• About 26% of water wells used in 2008 were metered, up 61% from 2003.
• 62% of all irrigation wells in use had some type of backflow prevention device installed, an increase of 18%.
• No data was available regarding the use of irrigation filters or water well filtration systems, such as those used to prolong the life of a submersible or turbine pumps in a sandy well.
• The average depth of an irrigation well (243 feet) was just 2% deeper than 2003, and leading the way was Arizona (521 feet).
• Arizona was also third in longest hours of water well pump operation (2003 hours, down 33%) behind Nevada (2574 hours) and Connecticut (2383).
• The top 5 states with the largest number of wells in use for irrigation purposes were Texas (77,389), Nebraska (77,347), California (61,192), Arkansas (38,729), and Kansas (19,301).
• Among those top 5 states, California had the deepest average well depth (380 feet, but 123 feet to water level) and Arkansas had the shallowest (125 feet, but just 47 feet to water level).
• The most popular crops harvested among all those irrigated with groundwater were corn (over 10 million acres), soybeans (6.4 million acres), and cotton/wheat (each with 2.7 million acres).
• The crops with the greatest INCREASE of acres using groundwater for irrigation were vegetables (72%) and berries (61%).
• The crops with the greatest DECREASE of acres were tobacco (71% drop) and sugar beets (39%). 

The growth of biofuels and its perceived potential in 2008 (the year the study was conducted), combined with the fact most ethanol production is derived from corn starch appears to have had significant impact on the use of groundwater to irrigate corn crops in some states.

More Water Well And Irrigation Information

For more information about this and other groundwater or irrigation facts and figures, visit the National Groundwater Association or Irrigation Association websites.

Water Well Filtration Information

No matter how deep the well, or the crop being irrigated, sand can enter the system and wreak havoc with an irrigation system. This can occur in the well itself or other source water supply, and can not only shorten the life of a pump and lower efficiencies, but can also plug drip emitters and cause crop damage. For more information about keeping water well pumps operating at their best efficiency in sandy well situations, download the LAKOS SUB-K Pump Protection brochure (for wells pumping up to 100 US gpm) or PPS Pump Protection Brochure (for turbine pumps and submersibles pumping more than 100 US gpm).