1. Irrigation Water Management in Arkansas
Brooks Davis- Arkansas Natural Resource Commission

2. Irrigation water management encourages the
application of water in an amount that meets the
need of the growing plant in a manner that avoids
extended soil saturation and runoff. By increasing
application precision and reducing unneeded
applications, water can be conserved and energy can
be saved.

3. Why is IWM Important? Critical Ground Water Areas
19 Counties in Arkansas
Water Conservation is a must in these Areas
Arkansas is 2nd in ground water use for irrigation in the United States
IWM implements more sustainable water use by saving producers time, money, and energy.

4. Water Use for Irrigation
Arkansas uses per day
Alluvial Aquifer-7 billion gallons
98% use of Aquifer
Sustainable use per day
Alluvial Aquifer- 3.4 billion gallons
Arkansas pumps over half the aquifer’s sustainability

5. What are we doing in Arkansas?
Educating producers on best management practices
Arkansas Soil Health Alliance
Group of Arkansas farmers- realized if we didn’t change the way we use our natural resources now there would be nothing left for future generations.
Soil Moisture Sensor Project
Cross County- 5 farms for 3 year period
Collect and analyzing data
Flow meters, soil moisture sensors, weather stations, and rainfall meters
Tax Credits and 3% Loans
Putting in Reservoirs, Land Leveling, Converting from ground to surface water, and Water Meters
Inside Critical Area- 50%
Outside Critical Area- 10%
Questions?

6. Requirements for IWM Producer Requirements Practices
Keep records of irrigation
Using data to scheduling irrigation and help making irrigation decisions
Basic IWM- Implement 2 practices
Intermediate IWM- Implement 3 practices
Practices
Soil moisture sensors
Weather stations
Rainfall meters
Flow meters
Pipe planner
Documentation must be submitted at the end of harvest each year

7. Flow meters and Computerized hole selection
Pipe Planner- helps determine more efficient ways to irrigate
Flow Meters-used to obtain irrigation flows and volumes applied throughout the growing season

8. Surge Valve
Utilized to build soil water profile to benefit plant water use and decrease erosion
Works on a timer
Rotate water and cuts time of irrigation almost in half.
Allow water to properly saturate soil without pooling and over watering.

9. Manual vs. Telemetry
Moisture Sensors- used to collect soil data at different intervals, help determine when to water.

11. Rainfall Meter- helps calculate how much rain your field gets during a storm.
Solar energy is used to run Telemetry from the farm
Allowing farmers to be anywhere and check the data

12. How is it helping?
More producers each year are converting from ground to surface water.
More IWM technicians are being hired to compensate for the workload of producers wanting to use irrigation water management practices.
We are proving to producers that these practices are saving them time and money.
Leading to ground water conservation
Encouraging sustainable agriculture through water conservation allowing the Alluvial Aquifer to maintain a more sustainable level