Irrigation's Contribution to Conservation in Focus on World Water Day

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TO NATIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SCIENCE EDITORS:

Irrigation's Contribution to Conservation in Focus on World Water Day

VIRGINIA, FALLS CHURCH, Mar. 19 -/E-Wire/-- Next time you take a bite of an apple, consider this: That juicy fruit probably grew on some of the driest land in the United States.

While apples are raised in many parts of the country, a full 52 percent of the value of the U.S. apple crop is grown in arid eastern Washington State.

"East of the Cascade mountains is bone dry," says Brian Leib, irrigation specialist for Washington State University. "The apple industry is totally dependent on irrigation."

World Water Day on March 22nd is an annual day to remind us how important water is to our everyday life. Many parts of the world are using up their fresh water resources quicker than nature can replenish them. When we think of water-starved areas we usually think of the far west with its wide-open prairies, however, wet areas like Florida and Massachusetts also lack adequate water supplies.

The nation, particularly agriculture, is doing something about reducing water use. Irrigation accounts for about 80 percent of the water used in this country and irrigation technology has found ways to grow crops, like apples, using less water while getting more fruit from the same land.

"Irrigated acreage provides a disproportionate share of crop sales," according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 1997 Census of Agriculture. While irrigated land accounts for only 16 percent of the nation's harvested cropland, it produced 49 percent of America's $98 billion in crop sales.

Not only that, "irrigated land is more productive," says Roy Karkosh, crop statistician for the USDA. The Census of Agriculture found that the average yield of corn per acre of irrigated land was 163 bushels, whereas un-irrigated land produced only 114 bushels on average.

"Water savings at the farm level can help offset the effect of rising water costs and restricted water supplies on producer income," according to Noel Gollehon of the USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS). Irrigation systems can be targeted to meet particular needs, a system can distribute fertilizer and herbicides in just the amount necessary, limiting waste and pollution.

Water conservation by agriculture, which uses the most water, will reduce the stresses on the whole U.S. water supply system.

That's something to sink your teeth into on World Water Day.

For more information contact: The Irrigation Association, 6540 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA 22042-6638, Web: http://www.irrigation.org Phone: [REDACTED-PHONE].

Irrigation Association

Tom Kimmell of the Irrigation Association, [REDACTED-PHONE]

http://www.irrigation.org

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