Economics of Surface Irrigation Systems

Irrigated agriculture in Idaho faces a decline in the availability of water and increasing costs for that available water. The demand for recreational and environmental urban water use continues to grow. Adopting improved irrigation technology is one of the few remaining alternatives that agriculture can use to address this problem. Development of large-scale water projects to enhance water supplies are unlikely and development of additional groundwater will not occur until the coordinated management of surface and groundwater is achieved. More efficient allocation and conservation of existing water supplies may represent the only new water available to agriculture. Agriculture in the United States consumes 80 percent of the country’s water resources.