Water temperature in irrigation return flow from the Upper Snake Rock watershed

Bjorneberg, D.L. (2015) Water temperature in irrigation return flow from the Upper Snake Rock watershed. Agriculture Water Management. 158(2015):209-212.

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Abstract

Water returning to a river from an irrigated watershed could increase the water temperature in the river. The objective of this study was to compare the temperature of irrigation return flow water with the temperature of the diverted irrigation water. Water temperature was measured weekly in the main irrigation canal, 24 return flow streams and one ephemeral stream from 2005 to 2008 in the Upper Snake Rock (USR) watershed. The USR is an 82,000 ha watershed in southern Idaho, USA with about 60% of the area surface irrigated and the remaining area sprinkler irrigated. Median annual water temperatures in irrigation return flow streams were not greater than the water diverted from the river, suggesting that water flowing through the canal system and furrow irrigated fields does increase temperature. Water in seven of the 14 return flow streams that received flow from subsurface drains had significantly lower temperatures than the main canal in at least two years of the four years. Significant differences were generally only two to three degrees Celsius. Results of this study indicate that water can be diverted from a river for surface irrigation without increasing the temperature of the irrigation return flow.

Item Type:	Article
NWISRL Publication Number:	1552
Subjects:	Irrigation > Furrow irrigation > Drainage water (see Percolation water) Water
Depositing User:	Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited:	14 Jul 2015 17:04
Last Modified:	14 Jul 2015 17:04
Item ID:	1594
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1594