Policy, Technology, and Management Options for Water Conservation in the Ogallala Aquifer in Kansas, USA
Policy, Technology, and Management Options for Water Conservation in the Ogallala Aquifer in Kansas, USA
复制标题
美国堪萨斯州奥加拉拉含水层节水政策、技术和管理方案
作者：
J. Steiner;D. Devlin;S. Perkins;J. Aguilar;B. Golden;E. Santos;Matt Unruh
奥加拉拉含水层占地4500万公顷，为大约190万人提供水，并支持美国大平原地区强劲的农业经济。奥加拉拉含水层已经经历了严重的枯竭，特别是在南部平原各州。本文介绍了促进灌溉技术应用的政策创新和管理创新。堪萨斯州的水政策创新具有双重效果，既增加了州政府监管水资源的权威，又提供了更大的灵活性，并增加了地方对水资源管理和监管的投入。技术创新的重点是改善供水的时机和位置。管理创新包括土壤水分监测、灌溉计划、土壤健康管理以及耐旱品种、作物和种植制度。最引人注目的成功是在实施地方强化管理区(LEMA)的集体行动中取得的，它表明，减少抽水导致地下水耗竭很少，甚至没有，同时保持净收入。更令人鼓舞的是，参加了勒马计划或其他保护计划的灌溉人员节约的水量甚至超过了他们的目标。创新的政策以及创造性的地方-州-联邦和私人-公共伙伴关系正在推动灌溉技术和管理的发展。通过多年分配的灵活性，对特定年份未使用的水进行银行处理，以及在农场的多个水权或用途之间转移水资源，这些都是促使灌溉者在奥加拉拉地区实现更可持续灌溉的有希望的途径。
The Ogallala Aquifer underlies 45 million ha, providing water for approximately 1.9 million people and supporting the robust agriculture economy of the US Great Plains region. The Ogallala Aquifer has experienced severe depletion, particularly in the Southern Plains states. This paper presents policy innovations that promote adoption of irrigation technology, and management innovations. Innovation in Kansas water policy has had the dual effects of increasing the authority of the state to regulate water while also providing more flexibility and increasing local input to water management and regulation. Technology innovations have focused on improved timing and placement of water. Management innovations include soil water monitoring, irrigation scheduling, soil health management and drought-tolerant varieties, crops, and cropping systems. The most noted success has been in the collective action which implemented a Local Enhanced Management Area (LEMA), which demonstrated that reduced water pumping resulted in low to no groundwater depletion while maintaining net income. Even more encouraging is the fact that irrigators who have participated in the LEMA or other conservation programs have conserved even more water than their goals. Innovative policy along with creative local–state–federal and private–public partnerships are advancing irrigation technology and management. Flexibility through multi-year allocations, banking of water not used in a given year, and shifting water across multiple water rights or uses on a farm are promising avenues to engage irrigators toward more sustainable irrigation in the Ogallala region.