|
Project
“WATER—TIP”, which stands for “Watermark &
ATmometER—Timed Irrigation Project,
began in May 2005 by
installing atmometers and Watermark® sensors at twenty
cooperators’ farms
throughout the Upper
Big Blue NRD. In 2006, we saw the numbers of cooperators jump to
67 members
involved with WATER-TIP.As
a result, the District offered a pilot program for cost-share in
the form of an
up-front price break
of fifty-percent of the cost of ET gauges, Watermark© sensors
and meters.
The purpose of the
project is to track soil moisture use by crops across the
District through measuring evapo-transpiration (ET) with the
atmometers and keeping track of soil moisture at each atmometer
site with four Watermark® sensors placed at 1-, 2-, 3- and
4-foot depths. (The actual equipment may vary depending on
specific needs at each site).
During the summer of 2006, “Project WATER-TIP” spawned the
Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Demonstration Network to extend
this program statewide. The 2007 project team is currently
made up of Dr. Suat Irmak — UNL Agricultural Water Management
Specialist; Dan Leininger — Upper Big Blue NRD Water
Conservationist; Rod DeBuhr — Upper Big Blue NRD Water
Department Manager; and UNL Extension agents — Gary Zoubek (York
Co.), Jenny Rees (Clay Co.), and Brandy VanDeWalle (Fillmore
Co.). Dr. Irmak was also successful in obtaining a grant
through the Natural Resources Conservation Service to expand
this effort to other parts of the State of Nebraska.
|
