Pressing flowers between pages…
Abstract. Engineers know how to apply agricultural water efficiently. Drip irrigation, center pivots, irrigation scheduling, and soil moisture probes are examples of technology that can be applied to optimize agricultural water use for crop production. As urban growth, environmental demands, climate change and drought result in shortages of water in the Colorado River Basin, the agricultural sector, which diverts the largest portion of water from the Colorado River, is being pressured to conserve. But legal, economic, and sociological factors greatly complicate whether and how agricultural water “saved” through irrigation efficiencies can be made available for other uses. The question currently is being debated throughout the state of Colorado on several fronts, among agricultural producers and their water managers, the state legislature, conservation groups, and others. This paper focuses on one facet of the debate as it is unfolding in the Lower Gunnison Basin on the west slope of Colorado, where Colorado State University is engaging agricultural producers in participatory research as part of their project Moving Forward on Agricultural Water Conservation in the Colorado River Basin. The project is funded by USDA—National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Using this example is intended to highlight some of the issues in play to perhaps pave the way for future collaboration. The paper underlines the convening role universities can play and the importance of engineers embracing the social sciences if technological advances are to result in conservation of natural resources.
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