Source: TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
DIVERSIFYING THE WATER PORTFOLIO FOR AGRICULTURE IN THE RIO GRANDE BASIN
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1011978
Grant No.
2017-68007-26318
Cumulative Award Amt.
$4,997,257.00
Proposal No.
2016-10207
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
May 1, 2017
Project End Date
Apr 30, 2022
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[A8101]- Water for Agriculture
Recipient Organization
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
750 AGRONOMY RD STE 2701
COLLEGE STATION,TX 77843-0001
Performing Department
Texas Water Resources Institut
Non Technical Summary
The Rio Grande, which extends 1,900 miles from Southern Colorado through New Mexico and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico, is the fourth longest US river and among the world's top thirty. Its lower reach forms the border between the United States and Mexico and approximately half of its watershed lays in Mexico. Snow pack feeds the upper river while summer monsoonal flow, primarily from the Rio Conchos in Mexico, feeds the lower river. The Basin is characterized by highly variable water availability that is complicated by international treaties and intrastate compacts, and water in the Basin is essentially fully allocated.The Rio Grande is one of the top 10 most endangered American and World rivers. Basin water resources, plus the societies, economies, species and ecosystems that depend on them, are seriously threatened by drought, climate change and rapid population growth. The river supplies water for over 6 million people and 2 million irrigated acres. Population growth and urban water demands are projected to double in the next 50 years. High levels of poverty and unemployment, low personal per capita income and water insecurity amongst the poorer communities exacerbate water management issues. Basin agriculture is valuable ($1 billion annually) and withdraws 80% of the freshwater resources, with the crops being grown including pecans, dairy, grass, alfalfa, vegetables, grapes, citrus, sugarcane, corn, sorghum and cotton. Climate change projections are for an increase in temperature and a decrease in net available water with the average by 2080 approaching the drought of record along with more erratic rainfall and severe storm events. Higher temperatures will result in increased potential evapotranspiration, increasing crop irrigation requirements and further stressing water supplies. The Basin is not alone in these challenges as many other arid-region river systems are facing similar crises, which provide significant water management challenges are overwhelming current practices. There is an urgent need for innovative responses to address these management challenges, with the Rio Grande being an ideal place to better understand these issues and test technology and management approaches that can better address water resource management in a changing environment.The Basin is characterized by intrastate, interstate and international relationships suggesting high visibility and critically important needs. Chronic water shortages are common and climate change projections suggest decreases in water availability, altered timing and amounts of precipitation/runoff, increasing ET and increased climate variability. During low flow years, groundwater is used to supplement water shortage situations. Aquifer stocks are declining plus there is increased intrusion of brackish water from deeper depths. This water supply situation, coupled with rapid population growth, places significant strain on water supplies and infrastructure. Combining this with a highly productive, valuable agriculture-supporting employment and income to relatively poor rural communities, there are serious consequences to not effectively managing water resources within the Basin, which is highly representative of many situations across the world with growing economies and populations. Alternative water sources, new crops and management practices and improved water conservation are all needed to sustain agricultural production, while simultaneously meeting environmental and societal needs. Despite the benefits of conserving freshwater, pursuing water supply diversification and increasing local control of water supplies, many questions remain that limit alternative water use. In particular, limited information is available on Best Management Practices (BMPs) for employing these waters for irrigation, current allocations and associated costs/benefits/risks.This project addresses the questions: 1) How can alternative waters be used on the farm and in nearby communities for agricultural production, processing and other uses? What nontraditional sources of water are available that conserves groundwater and river freshwater? 2) What technologies and training are needed to assist in conserving and efficiently using the water availability portfolio? 3) What effective water treatment, water application, water reuse and salinity management technologies are economical and sustainable? 4) How can water conveyance, application and use practices be improved? 5) What scientific information is necessary for appropriate institutional, policy, regulatory and governance decisions? 6) What new knowledge and action communicated to agricultural and nonagricultural water users will improve the situation?This project allows leveraging prior work to advance solutions to growing water stress that can be applied to arid basins globally. The proposed hydrologic, agronomic and economic analysis in conjunction with extension and stakeholder involvement will provide much needed information for water portfolio diversification and increasing Basin agriculture viability.
Animal Health Component
45%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
45%
Developmental
40%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1120399202030%
1110210205030%
4055360301025%
6035350107015%
Knowledge Area
603 - Market Economics; 112 - Watershed Protection and Management; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 405 - Drainage and Irrigation Systems and Facilities;

Subject Of Investigation
5350 - Domestic and community water supply facilities and systems; 0210 - Water resources; 0399 - Watersheds and river basins, general; 5360 - Drainage and irrigation facilities and systems;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 2050 - Hydrology; 1070 - Ecology; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of this project is to understand how the use of all available water resources can be optimized to provide the greatest societal return within the Rio Grande Basin to help sustain agricultural production while enhancing regional water use efficacy, economic and employment opportunities, plus improving ecosystem services. This will be done through the development of an optimizing economic and hydrologic water management model that allows evaluation of multiple water technology and management alternatives across all users, including improved crop mixes and agricultural practices. The model will be implemented and applied to enhance water use efficacy, agricultural profitability and use of nontraditional waters to provide insight on a path towards water sustainability within the Basin. Subsequently the model will be made accessible to stakeholders to better inform water resource management beyond the study area and study lifetime, allowing a holistic assessment of how changes in technology and management can increase water productivity in arid regions across the world.Achieving this overarching goal will require discovery, development and evaluation of integrated management strategies to improve uses across blue, green and gray water along with conservation initiatives. The Rio Grande Basin provides a unique laboratory for assessing methods to optimize water use efficiency across the agricultural, industrial, municipal and environmental sectors in varying climatic conditions (arid to subtropical), rainfall (10 to 27 inches) and ecoregions (desert to coastal plain).In this context, our specific goals are to:Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios.Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices.Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value.To achieve these goals, five specific objectives must be accomplished, these being:Evaluate water sources, including nontraditional sources, for urban, agricultural and ecosystem use under changing climate, water management and demographics;Assess how nontraditional waters can be used to extend supplies through a combination of new management practices, crops and treatment technologies;Evaluate economical methods for conserving water and improving the operation of irrigation systems at the district and field scale;Develop a systems assessment of how integrating water conservation technologies and management practices into Basin water plans will impact economics and environment;Broaden outreach, demonstration, teaching and software release programs to extend new knowledge to water managers and agricultural producers within the Rio Grande Basin.
Project Methods
A multi-location experimental and analytical approach will be employed, spanning the arid to subtropical climatic gradient in the Basin.Research activities include development and integration of the SWAT and RIVERSIM models to assess water availability and economically optimize its use; field studies on the effects of different water quality, irrigation methods, management and soil treatments; greenhouse and field studies to identify crops, cultivars and cropping systems with salt tolerance, climate adaptability and economic importance; data synthesis to improve ET data and irrigation scheduling; and research on cutting-edge Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) technologies to improve water use efficacy and detect infrastructure failure.Extension will engage stakeholders to guide modeling and field based experiments, conduct outreach to water managers, assess profitability of new crops and cropping systems, provide on-farm demonstrations and field days, host regional workshops and publish fact sheets and guides.Our approach combines economic and hydrological models, greenhouse and field experiments, stakeholder engagement and extensive outreach by a multi-disciplinary team (soil science, plant physiology, agriculture engineering and resource economics) belonging to TAMU and NMSU.The first objective of this project will be met by developing an analysis platform to identify the quantity and quality of exploitable Basin water supplies (surface water, treated urban water, groundwater, return flow, produced water, brackish groundwater) in terms of the costs associated with their development and spatio-temporal availability. This analysis platform will include the ability to assess how alternative waters can be used to meet urban and industrial demands, thereby releasing some traditional water supplies for agriculture. This analysis platform will assess how future water supply and demand projections will impact water resources for agricultural use and ultimately the viability of agriculture and rural communities.The second objective of this project will be met by assessing the availability of alternative water resources (saline and reclaimed sources) and demonstrating their use within the basin. Four locations (El Paso, Pecos, Weslaco, Alamogordo) will be used to perform this assessment using multi-year field evaluations of different alternative waters for agriculture irrigation by soil science, plant physiology, agriculture engineering and resource economics scientists at TAMU and NMSU.Split plot experimental design involving potential crops/cultivars, water qualities and soil treatments will be employed to evaluate crop/cultivar performance under irrigation with alternative waters. Close to cities, sources of alternative water could be treated municipal water, graywater or storm water runoff. Formation water and brackish groundwater will be evaluated at Pecos and desalination concentrate blended with high quality water will be evaluated at Alamogordo. Soil treatments include different chemical amendments such as gypsum or elemental sulfur.Plant performance parameters will be recorded. In addition, physiological parameters such as gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence, relative chlorophyll content, will be measured at regular intervals. Field experiments will be conducted at Pecos and Weslaco to represent contrasts in water quantity and quality, as well as temperature. Field factorial experiments will be designed to capture impacts of these contrasting regional water resource scenarios on biomass production and economic feasibility.The third objective for this project will be accomplished by developing tools to aid water managers in improving the efficacy of water management across multiple scales. This project will examine the use of UAS technology in addressing both of these issues for both the more arid upper region and the lower sub-tropical region of the study area. Existing data will be obtained for both the upper and lower agricultural regions of the study area from a variety of sources including, but not limited to: Texas ET Network, Weather Underground, Texas High Plains ET Network, USGS, NOAA, NASS (Crop data layer), NCEP, remote sensing data and others. These data will be used to examine crop watering recommendations from different sources. The system will estimate yield reductions by simulating an entire irrigation season using ET data known to be accurate and the irrigation schedule derived from each ET data source. IMO will then estimate the yield consequences and irrigation efficiency associated with each ET dataset.An online decision support system will be developed based on the above analyses and made available to agricultural producers. This tool will: 1) assist growers with selecting an ET data source; 2) quantify potential yield uncertainties and identify strategies to compensate; and 3) educate growers about the value of precise irrigation management.Aviation and UAS equipped with advanced sensors will be used to assess crop characteristics and the effect of crop water stress and salinity on crop growth. This information will be correlated with data from soil water sensors and direct soil water determinations. These data will be used to produce refined crop coefficients and quantification of spatiotemporal variability.The fourth objective of this project will be met by identifying the most economically efficient use of fresh and marginal water supplies. Costs associated with on-going desalination treatment activities within and near the region will be inventoried and used to develop relationships between treatment costs, source water quality and level of water treatment.Crop enterprise budgets will be constructed by region for most applicable crops with alternative irrigation methods, land treatments, salinity management and salt loads. The application of the RIVERSIM model will provide estimates of changes in agricultural gross revenue and municipal costs based on an optimal allocation of water to M&I use plus cropping use.Objective five of this project will be met by engaging stakeholders to guide modeling and field experiments and extend new knowledge to water managers and agricultural producers. This will include conducting outreach to water managers, assessing profitability of new crops and cropping systems, providing on-farm demonstrations and field days for agricultural producers via county programs, hosting regional workshops and publishing fact sheets and guides to disseminate findings.Extension personnel will conduct outreach to a wide variety of audiences including water managers, landowners and agricultural producers, agricultural service providers (i.e. crop consultants), commodity groups, policy makers and other decision makers, students and the general public to promote adoption of better management. An annual Rio Grande Basin Conference will be held to further enable technology transfer through presentations on the demonstration results, optimization model, new water strategies and cropping systems.The effectiveness of this project's activities and utility of its products will be evaluated through a comprehensive program that will be organized to provide feedback to improve the project, and provide a summative evaluation to assess and document project impacts and outcomes. The evaluation will be conducted by the Kansas State University Office of Educational Innovation and Evaluation (OEIE) in collaboration with the Project Director, team and stakeholders.Overarching evaluation questions will be developed and assessed interviews, focus groups and/or web-based surveys incorporating the Tailored Design Method approach to effective qualitative research with evaluation indicators addressing project research objectives, project integration, and effectiveness of extension activies.

Progress 05/01/17 to 04/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for this project consisted primarily of water managers and agricultural producers with the intention of benefiting communities as a whole within the Rio Grande Basin. Through this project, there were various target audiences engaged. First, provided a major component of the project was predominantly focused on water management at the basin scale, a technical advisory committee was developed that consisted of representatives from irrigation district from various parts of the Texas and New Mexico, the International Boundary and Water Commission, researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso, and the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility. Municipalities and producers were also engaged; however, provided that water for both regions is provided by irrigation districts, it was cost effective to more intensively engage the irrigation district managers. The advisory committee was engaged throughout the project to obtain information regarding current water management practices and infrastructure, and planned projects to meet demands for the future. With this information, Objective 1 and 4 teams were able analyze various scenarios, resulting in management alternatives that were provided back to the advisory committee for consideration. Secondly, to reach agricultural stakeholders with project information, numerous methods were employed. Field days were held to demonstrate to producers the effects of various soil amendments and irrigating with various sources of water; however, in year three of the project which is when results were first coming available to distribute, Covid-19 severely limited outreach activities for two years. Understanding this early, the outreach team pivoted to reach agricultural producers remotely. This primarily consisted of creating eight, one-minute videos with content from existing fact sheets, and distributed via social media platforms. Project team members were also invited to present at other meetings where producers were in attendance such as irrigation district meetings and local crop meetings. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Title Name Training GAR Dhanesh Yeganantham Hydrologic Model training Programmer Pratheeba Kalaiselvan Hydrologic Model training Research Specialist Katherine Mendoza Hydrologic Model training Geospatial Analysist Samuel Moore Hydrologic Model training Program Aide Terry Nipp Hydrologic Model training Research Assistant Macy Long Hydrologic Model training GAR Lunyu Zhao Hydrologic Model training non-affiliated student Jason Davidson Equipment safety and field methods research associate Ling Sun Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Post doc research Santosh Oalmate Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework GAR Sydney Winn Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework GAR Lizihan Yu Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Post doc research Vijay Changanti Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Technician 2 Debrah Dobitz Equipment safety and field methods Non-affiliated student Aflredo Gomez Equipment safety and field methods Non-affiliated student Ethan Legrande Equipment safety and field methods GA Research Assistant Mokarighahroodi, Esmaiil Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development Temp Exempt Lenzo, Gay M. Equipment safety and field methods Temp Exempt Palmer, Ross Equipment safety and field methods Temp Exempt Ross, James B. Equipment safety and field methods Temp Faculty-Research Samani, Zohrab A. Equipment safety and field methods Non-affiliated student Anderson Xicay Xico Equipment safety and field methods research associate Triston Hooks Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development research associate Jorge Solorzano Diaz Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development Non-affiliated student Jacqueline Alfaro Equipment safety and field methods Non-affiliated student Carlos Castro-Lopez Equipment safety and field methods GAR Lingyi Li Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development GAR Bingru Sheng ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models Post doc research Chengcheng Fei ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models GAR Phatchaya Piriyathanasak ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models GAR Muxi Cheng ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models GAR Hyung Ho Park ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models GAR Minki Hong ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models Program Specialist I Ali Ajaz Survey Methodology, data collection and analysis Extension Associate Victor Gutierrez Survey Methodology, data collection and analysis GAR Taylor Olsovsky Survey Methodology, data collection and analysis How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Outreach efforts in this project primarily focused on primary stakeholders as described in the target audience section of this report. There were, however, efforts to reach audiences outside of our target audience. Two science fair community events were held, one in El Paso and one in Las Cruces. The goal of these events was to raise awareness about the research and extension work being conducted, the importance of being a good steward of water resources, and how this would benefit the community as a whole. Additionally, presentations at local schools were held to raise interest amongst students about careers in science and how those careers can benefit their home and families. Lastly, eight one-minute videos were developed and distributed via social media during Covid-19 to maintain a presence within communities. While the target audience of these videos were agricultural producers, these were disseminated across our project region as a whole and were not limited to agricultural producers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. Work to achieve this goal was predominantly carried out through Objective 1: Evaluate water sources, including nontraditional sources, for human, agricultural and ecosystem under changing climate, water management, and demographics. Through this objective , the SWAT model, with groundwater model input, was applied in conjunction with the RIVERSIM model. Major tasks accomplished included: Calibration of the SWAT model for the Rio Grande Watershed with the baseline climate scenario. Extraction of the SWAT modeled natural flow for 38 gages from Rio Grande River headwater to El Paso which was supplied to the RIVERSIM model for further analysis. Estimation of the streamflow output corresponding to different climate scenarios and detailed analysis of the effect of climate scenarios on the hydrology of the Rio Grande Headwaters. Stream flow, Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorous (TP) in the stream was simulated for lower Rio Grande basin, below El Paso. The river water salinity for three stations from El Paso to Fort Quitman was modeled by coupling ensemble machine learning technique with SWAT model the results were published a journal article. Results concluded that rainfall is decreased for the 4.5 and 8.5 RCPs. The decreased rainfall didn't result in streamflow decrease, the reason being the temporal and spatial distribution of the rainfall deficit. There is an increased potential evapotranspiration (PET) trend which is caused by of the future temperature increase. There is decreased snowfall in the winter due to the increase in temperature; and this is also a trigger for the increased streamflow during the winter months. Overall, we can expect decreased rainfall, increased temperature, decreased snowfall, decreased ET and increased streamflow for the future climate scenarios in upper Rio Grande watershed. To extend these findings, water managers throughout the basin were engaged to present changes in water conditions through Objective 5: Broaden outreach, demonstration, teaching and software release programs to extend new knowledge to water managers and agricultural producers within the Rio Grande Basin. No immediate changes in action or condition were observed but it is anticipated that results will be useful for water managers in future decision making. Goal 2. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. This goal was primarily carried out through Objective 2: Assess how nontraditional waters can be used to extend supplies through a combination of new management practices, crops and treatment technologies and Objective 5 through field demonstrations. Various field experiments were conducted to demonstrate the impacts of various nontraditional sources of water on crop yield as well as assess the feasibility of alternative crops, appropriate for each region, were conducted for: cotton, switchgrass, energy sorghum, canola, pomegranate, quinoa, tomatoes, alfalfa and pecans. Results have been published in various journals and have been extended to local producers at field days. Additionally, Objective 3: Evaluate economical methods for conserving water and improving the operation of irrigation systems at the district and field scale, contributed to this goal by developing and researching methods and tools for improving water management at several scales of analysis, thus providing new information for optimizing water used for irrigation. Results have provided: Improved approaches for calculating reference evapotranspiration New crop watering recommendations An improved internet model for estimating crop water requirements Remote sensing methods for measuring variables related to crop water consumption and a comparison to aerial sensor platform specifications/data processing Improved processing techniques for satellite thermal data Improvements to crop coefficients Better understanding of water balances for various crops, and Better understanding leak detection methods in canal systems Finally, Objective 5 conducted a survey to assess barriers to adoption of using ET decision support tools (irrigation scheduling tools) where results indicated a lack of utilizing tools by producers, a lack of appropriateness of the tools for the irrigation systems that are commonly used in the region due to the need for irrigating when water is available and not based on crop requirements, and methods that are commonly used today. Goal 3: Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. This goal was achieved through Objective 4: Develop a systems assessment of how integrating water conservation technologies and management practices into Basin water plans will impact economics and environment. Through this objective, two Rio Grande River Hydrologic-economic simulation models (RIOSIM) were developed. Both models simulate annual equilibrium in the river under nine states of nature along with surface and groundwater diversion and demand of the major sectors. The major types of water projects include 1) groundwater transfer and desalination, 2) building of off channel reservoirs, 3) building of aquifer storage and recovery projects, 4) seawater desalination and 5) expansions in water treatment and reuse. Water prices in the region are expected to be higher due to the demand increase induced mainly by population growth and the cost implications when more water is supplied by expensive water projects. Without considering the responses to price changes, this would cause simulations with excessive construction of water projects and excess capacity, which cause the bond default under the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS). With population growth, more water projects are needed to increase regional water supply. We also found climate change accelerates the construction and operation of water projects. (Fei et al, 2022; Wang, 2020) Preliminary results showed that as we allow for more freedom to lease water rights as a drought management strategy have raised regional welfare by providing the higher valued users (the non-agricultural sectors) with water during dry periods, therefore avoiding the need for expensive water projects. The impact of ENSO on crop yields was estimated using the county level data in the lower 48 states to incorporate more variation in the climate variables and crop yields for 16 major field crops. Results show that both El Nino and La Nina has a negative impact on crop yields in the Southwest region. Additionally, preliminary results show that more deficit irrigation is employed to save water under drier states of nature, which is a drought management strategy where the agricultural sector would be compensated to reduce water use so as to benefit other sectors and the whole region. However it is notable that the agricultural sector looses in this situation and compensation would be required to facilitate the transfer and compensate agriculture for its losses. Analysis indicates current system of Irrigation District holding water rights is not efficient in incentive for farmers to invest in water conserving technologies or practices since they do not get the water they save. Alternatives for rewarding farmers for conserved water provides incentive for on-farm conservation technologies and practices. Estimated treatment cost for brackish water is about $770/acft. It is too expensive for irrigation use.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Dever, J. K., C. M. Kelly, and V. A. Morgan. Registration of cotton germplasm line CA 4008. Journal of Plant Registrations, 00, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1002/plr2.20175.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Prediction modeling for yield and water-use efficiency in spinach using remote sensing via an unmanned aerial system. HO Awika, J Solorzano, U Cholula, A Shi, J Enciso&�- Smart Agricultural Technology, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chaganti, V.N., G. Ganjegunte, W.L. Hargrove, G. Nui, A. Ulery, J.M. Enciso, R. Flynn, and J. Kiniry. 2021. Chaganti, V. N., Ganjegunte, G., Niu, G., Ulery, A., Enciso, J. M., Flynn, R., ... & Kiniry, J. R. (2021). Yield response of canola as a biofuel feedstock and soil quality changes under treated urban wastewater irrigation and soil amendment application. Industrial Crops and Products, 170, 113659.. Industrial Crops and Products.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chaganti, V.S., Ganjegunte, G., G. Niu, A. Ulery, R. Flynn, J. Enciso, N. Meki, J. Kiniry. 2021. Response of soil organic carbon and emerging soil health indicators to treated wastewater irrigation in bioenergy sorghum production on an arid soil. Land Degradation & Development. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.3888
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Chaganti, V.N., G. Ganjegunte, G. Niu, A. Ulery, R. Flynn, J.M. Enciso, M.N. Meki, J.R. Kiniry. 2020. Effects of treated urban wastewater irrigation on bioenergy sorghum and soil quality. Agricultural Water Management, 228:105894 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105894
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Evaluation of Long-term Climate Change on the Growing Season and Water Use of Mature Pecan in Lower Rio Grande Valley Esmaiil Mokaria, Zohrab Samani, Richard Heerema, Frank Ward
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Boyko, Kevin, Alexander G. Fernald, and A. Salim Bawazir. "Improving groundwater recharge estimates in alfalfa fields of New Mexico with actual evapotranspiration measurements."�Agricultural Water Management�244 (2021): 106532.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Forecasting yield and lignocellulosic composition of energy cane using unmanned aerial systems Cholula U, JA da Silva, T Marconi, JA Thomasson, J Solorzano, J Enciso. Agronomy 10 (5), 718
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Juan Enciso, Uriel Cholula, Ashish Masih, Jose L. Chavez, Jorge Solorzano, Ayrton Laredo. 2020. Evaluating the Use of True Color Unmanned Aerial System images for Irrigation Scheduling in Citrus. Written for presentation at the 6th Decennial National Irrigation Symposium Sponsored by ASABE. San Antonio, Texas. November 30  December 4, 2020
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Digital Terrain Models Generated with Low-Cost UAV Photogrammetry: Methodology and Accuracy SI Jim�nez-Jim�nez, W Ojeda-Bustamante& - ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2021
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Evaluating the Use of True Color Unmanned Aerial System images for Irrigation Scheduling in Citrus. J Enciso, U Cholula, A Masih, JL Chavez, J Solorzano&�- 6th Decennial National Irrigation Symposium, 6-8�&, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Estimation of daily reference evapotranspiration with limited climatic data using machine learning approaches across different climate zones in New Mexico E Mokari, D DuBois, Z Samani, H Mohebzadeh& - Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Evaluation of long-term climate change impact on the growing season and water use of mature pecan in Lower Rio Grande Valley. E Mokari, Z Samani, R Heerema, F Ward�- Agricultural Water Management, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Spatiotemporal imputation of MODIS land surface temperature using machine learning techniques (Case study: New Mexico's Lower Rio Grande Valley). E Mokari, H Mohebzadeh, Z Samani, D DuBois&�- Remote Sensing Applications: Society and�&, 2021
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Berthold, A., Ajaz, A., Olsovsky, T., & Kathuria, D. (2021). Identifying Barriers to Adoption of Irrigation Scheduling Tools in Rio Grande Basin. Smart Agricultural Technology, 100016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Park, H., & McCarl, B. A. (2021). The Impact of Institutional Changes in Water Rights Market in the Lower Rio-Grande Valley.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Xue, Q., S. Thapa, K. E. Jessup, T. H. Marek, and J. M. Bell. 2019. corn response to limited irrigation in the Texas High Plains. ASA-CSSA-SSSA, 2019 International Annual Meetings, Nov. 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sabie et al 2020. Effects of airborne sensor calibration techniques on estimating evapotranspiration, in prep
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hong, M., Mohanty, B. P., & Sheng, Z. (2020). An Explicit Scheme to Represent the Bidirectional Hydrologic Exchanges Between the Vadose Zone, Phreatic Aquifer, and River.�Water Resources Research,�56(9), e2020WR027571.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Impact of sensor spatial response in field ET estimate through remote sensing. A. Pinion, Z. Samani, S. Bawazir. Accepted for publication in ASCE J. of Irrig. & Drainage Engineering, Dec. 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Jung, C., Ahn, S., Sheng, Z., Ayana, E. K., Srinivasan, R., & Yeganantham, D. (2021). Evaluate River Water Salinity in a Semi?Arid Agricultural Watershed by Coupling Ensemble Machine Learning Technique with SWAT Model. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association.


Progress 05/01/20 to 04/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached this reporting period was fairly limited compared to previous years due to Covid-19; however, the project team engaged the advisory board various times which is made up of irrigation district managers, agency personnel, and academia. The key purpose of engaging the board during this year was to listen to various water project scenarios that are planned for the different regions and use these scenarios in the modeling exercises. Ideally, modeling results will assist regional water managers in determining which water supply project would be most effective moving forward. Other activities consisted of the development of a txH2O magazine focused on Rio Grande projects that will be distributed to a wide audience including legislators, agency personnel, individual producers, and other water managers both at the state and federal level. Finally, 8 presentations were given at virtual meetings and conferences in an effort to raise awareness of the project amongst stakeholders as well as distribute project results. Changes/Problems:As with many projects, Covid-19 caused a delay to many actvitivies on the project; however, a one year no cost extension had been requested and awarded which should allow sufficient time to complete the project. No other changes or problems have come up on the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective 1. Evaluate water sources, including nontraditional sources, for urban, agricultural and ecosystem use under changing climate, water management and demographics; Objective Name FTE Position Type Training 1 Dhanesh Yeganantham 0.5 Graduate HAWK System Objective 2.Assess how nontraditional waters can be used to extend supplies through a combination of new management practices, crops and treatment technologies; Objective Name FTE Position Type Training 2 Charles Jones 0.02 Technical Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Debrah Dobitz 0.15 Technical Equipment safety and field methods 2 Zane Wyatt 0.25 Technical Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Ling Sun 0.56 Technical Equipment safety and field methods 2 Amee Bumguardner 0.9 Technical Equipment safety and field methods 2 Triston Hooks 1 Technical Equipment safety and field methods 2 Jordan Yates 0.01 Undergraduate Equipment safety and field methods 2 Louise Reisner 0.01 Undergraduate Equipment safety and field methods 2 Jason Davidson 0.07 Undergraduate Equipment safety and field methods 2 Jacqueline Alfaro 0.07 Undergraduate UAS processing and interpretation 2 Sydney Winn 0.1 Undergraduate Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Sarah Mclean 0.13 Undergraduate Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Carlos Castro-Lopez 0.14 Undergraduate Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Priscilla Reyes 0.15 Undergraduate Equipment safety and field methods 2 Alfredo Gomez Jr 0.19 Undergraduate Equipment safety and field methods 2 Vijaya Chaganti 1 Post Doc Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework 2 Santosh Palmate 1 Post Doc Equipment safety and field methods Objective3.Evaluate economical methods for conserving water and improving the operation of irrigation systems at the district and field scale; Objective Name FTE Position Type Training 3 Inez Vela Jr 0.01 Technical training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Palmer, Ross 0.01 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Fernald, Alexander G. 0.08 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Barrera-Porras, Pedro 0.1 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Lower, Timothy C. 0.1 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Rivero, Isais M. 0.12 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Sabie, Robert P. 0.13 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Pacheco, Amenda R. 0.19 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Romine, Latisha M. 0.21 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Jorge Diaz 0.24 Technical training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Samani, Zohrab A. 0.25 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Boyko, Kevin 0.28 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Hill, Jessica M. 0.36 Technical Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Ali Ajaz 0.5 Technical training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Mostafazadeh-Fard, Saman 0.02 Graduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Whiting, Michael R. 0.02 Grauate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Preciado, Jorge L. 0.11 Graduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Mokarighahroodi, Esmaiil 0.14 Graduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Whiting, Michael R. 0.26 Graduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Urie Rivera 0.5 Grauate training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Dhruva Kathuria 0.5 Grauate training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Swanson, Angelica L. 0.5 Grauate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Cabos, Heather M. 0.02 Undergraduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development 3 Michael Espinoza 0.04 Undergraduate training on model development and ET data interpretation 3 Marry, Kaitlin I. 0.5 Undergraduate Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development Objective4.Develop a systems assessment of how integrating water conservation technologies and management practices into Basin water plans will impact economics and environment; Objective Name FTE Position Type Training 4 Chengcheng Fei 0.36 Graduate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Minki Hong 0.42 Grauate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Binru Sheng 0.5 Graduate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Minglu Wang 0.5 Grauate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Phatchaya Piriyathanasak 0.5 Grauate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Muxi Cheng 0.5 Graduate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 Hyung Ho Park 0.5 Grauate ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models 4 yingqian Yang 0.5 Post Doc ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models Objective 5.Broaden outreach, demonstration, teaching and software release programs to extend new knowledge to water managers and agricultural producers within the Rio Grande Basin. Objective Name FTE Position Type Training 5 Taylor Olsovsky 0.07 Graduate Survey methodology and analysis How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All education presentations are previously listed and beyond this in other products, no other results have yet been completed for dissemination. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. SWAT naturalized outputs at different gauge locations and different time periods will be generated for further climate scenarios as required by the Riversim model group. Once the CMIP-6 dataset is available, the SWAT simulations and analysis of output will be performed. A statistical analysis of the SWAT simulated water budget components with respect to the different climate scenarios will be performed for Rio Grande basin upstream of Elephant Butte Reservoir. An analysis of the capacity of the Elephant Butte Reservoir and river inflow will be done with for different climate scenarios. Additionally, the coupled BE3S-NWM model (or enhanced NWM) will be implemented to predict the potential changes of hydrologic states and fluxes in unsaturated zone (e.g., soil moisture), phreatic aquifer (e.g., groundwater storage), and river (e.g., streamflow) as well as land-atmosphere interaction fluxes (e.g., ET) under changing climate based on RCP 4.5, 6.0, and 8.5 data. The simulation will be based on NHDPlus v2.0 dataset to provide catchment/reach-scale data for the development of water management strategies over the Rio Grande Basin area. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Greenhouse and field quinoa cultivars salinity tolerance evaluations will continue at El Paso, TX. Due to difficulties in establishing direct seeded switchgrass at Artesia, NM as of date only one-year biomass data is available. During the summer of 2021, field studies on switchgrass evaluation of elevated salinity in irrigation water will continue at Artesia, NM. In all three field sites changes to soil quality parameters will be evaluated to develop appropriate management practices. Due to the weather challenges and lack of irrigation water farmers have encountered, some have expressed interests in diversifying their cropping system by using alternative production systems like hydroponics in climate-controlled facility (high tunnels and greenhouses). Hydroponics can save water by more than 90% compared to open field production, provided that high quality water (low salinity and pathogen free) is used. However, in many Rio Grande areas like west Texas, available irrigation water has high salinity. Therefore, this objective team will conduct research on identifying the crops that can be potentially grown in hydroponics using saline water Katie Lewis and Jane Dever will continue field evaluation of cotton cultivar(s) performance under saline groundwater irrigation at a farmer location near Garden City. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. For this objective, we are in process of constructing a sub-model covering water use and possible trading of water rights in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. We will run four scenarios reflecting alterations in water rights trading provisions: 1) current conditions; 2) elimination of the tiered priority model; 3) adding a dry year option (leasing) mechanism; and 4) changing the agriculture to municipality water trading ratio. Soon, work will consist of using the upper basin model to explore alternative scenarios on water project construction under population growth and climate change and subsequently, saline water use for irrigation will be evaluated. We plan to move the El Paso to For Quitman component of the Lower river model out and into the upper river model. We will continue to interact with other team members about our salinity study and the consequences of using brackish water long term on yields, soils and leaching requirements.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. This goal is focused on examining the water availability in the Rio Grande basin at current and projected scenarios using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Work under this objective for last year included analysis of water budget components with respect to four different climate scenarios; MIRCO and IPSL (for the 4.5 and 8.5 RCP) were reported for the Rio Grande basin upstream of Elephant Butte where snowpack replenishes the Rio Grande. These watersheds were calibrated with the baseline scenario prior to analysis. SWAT was used to model naturalized flow for 38 gauges from the headwaters in Colorado to El Paso and results will be used in the RIVERSIM model for further analysis. Streamflow, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus have been simulated for the Rio Grande below El Paso. Salinity was evaluated for 3 stations from El Paso to Fort Quitman, by coupling an ensemble machine learning technique with SWAT results. Using a forward modeling framework, a Bidirectional Exchange Scheme (BE3S) for surface and subsurface water has been developed and tested. The primary focus of BE3s is modeling bidirectional hydrologic exchange fluxes between vadose zone-phreatic aquifer-river based. The BE3S model was published in a peer-review journal (i.e., Water Resources Research, AGU publication). The BE3S is being integrated into the National Water Model (NWM) with a particular focus on predicting hydrologic processes (e.g., surface water-groundwater exchanges) over the Rio Grande River basin. 2. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Studies are ongoing at all four study sites (Lubbock, Artesia, El Paso, Weslaco) that included data collection on crop responses, biomass production, and soil property changes in the root zone from alternative water irrigation. Two years of field evaluation of canola (vegetable oil/forage/biodiesel crop) and three years ofresults on performance of lignocellulose bioenergy crops have been completed. Greenhouse and growth chamber experiments to evaluate salinity tolerance of pecan root stocks, turf, pomegranate, turfgras, ornamental plants, cotton, bioenergy sorghum, switchgrass, canola, and quinoa have been completed and has been published in peer reviewed journals (or is being published) or shared with stakeholders at producer meetings, extension meetings, and regional and national scientific meetings. 3. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. The Rio Grande basin is commonly divided into two segments, the upper basin and lower basin. In the lower basin, we included saline water availability into the model to explore whether the model would choose to use brackish groundwater for crop irrigation and the response to incentives for farmers to use brackish water. In particular, we applied several different levels of subsidy and examined the change in crop mix and agricultural water use. We found the model made substantial use of saline water and have constructed a short briefing paper on the results. El Nino and La Nina probabilities have been adjusted to examine welfare effects of shifting El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequency and strength. A paper has been developed presenting the results. Additionally, we ran population growth and climate scenarios through the lower river model to explore effects on construction of identified water projects in the State. We found the model made a number of adjustments under those cases and results are also presented in a briefing paper. In the upper Rio Grande basin, an initial model setup has been completed and base runs have been made.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hong, M., Mohanty, B. P., & Sheng, Z. (2020). An Explicit Scheme to Represent the Bidirectional Hydrologic Exchanges Between the Vadose Zone, Phreatic Aquifer, and River. Water Resources Research, 56(9), e2020WR027571.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Evaluation of River Water Salinity in a Semi-arid Agricultural Watershed by Coupling Ensemble Machine Learning with SWAT Model. Submitted to Journal of American Water Resources Association.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chaganti, V.N., G. Ganjegunte, W.L. Hargrove, G. Nui, A. Ulery, J.M. Enciso, R. Flynn, and J. Kiniry. 2021. Treated urban wastewater irrigation for growing canola as a potential biofuel crop in arid west Texas and its effects on soil quality. Industrial Crops and Products.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chaganti, V.S., Ganjegunte, G., G. Niu, A. Ulery, R. Flynn, J. Enciso, N. Meki, J. Kiniry. 2021. Response of soil organic carbon and emerging soil health indicators to treated wastewater irrigation in bioenergy sorghum production on an arid soil. Land Degradation & Development. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.3888
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Chaganti, V.N., G. Ganjegunte, G. Niu, A. Ulery, R. Flynn, J.M. Enciso, M.N. Meki, J.R. Kiniry. 2020. Effects of treated urban wastewater irrigation on bioenergy sorghum and soil quality. Agricultural Water Management, 228:105894 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105894
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Evaluation of Long-term Climate Change on the Growing Season and Water Use of Mature Pecan in Lower Rio Grande Valley Esmaiil Mokaria, Zohrab Samani, Richard Heerema, Frank Ward
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Boyko, Kevin, Alexander G. Fernald, and A. Salim Bawazir. "Improving groundwater recharge estimates in alfalfa fields of New Mexico with actual evapotranspiration measurements." Agricultural Water Management 244 (2021): 106532.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Forecasting yield and lignocellulosic composition of energy cane using unmanned aerial systems Cholula U, JA da Silva, T Marconi, JA Thomasson, J Solorzano, J Enciso. Agronomy 10 (5), 718
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Juan Enciso, Uriel Cholula, Ashish Masih, Jose L. Chavez, Jorge Solorzano, Ayrton Laredo. 2020. Evaluating the Use of True Color Unmanned Aerial System images for Irrigation Scheduling in Citrus. Written for presentation at the 6th Decennial National Irrigation Symposium Sponsored by ASABE. San Antonio, Texas. November 30 ⿿ December 4, 2020


Progress 05/01/19 to 04/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for outreach efforts during this period mainly consisted of professional organizations and agricultural producers. Of these groups, presentations were given at three professional organizations reaching 115 individuals and 7 events where agricultural producers were present reaching 520 individuals. Changes/Problems:N/A What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective 1 - Evaluate water sources, including nontraditional sources, for urban, agricultural and ecosystem use under changing climate, water management and demographics. Name Role FTE Training Received Essayas Ayana Postdoctoral .031 How to use SWAT and the HAWQS System Sora Ahn Postdoctoral .25 Modeling development and ET data interpretation Minki Hong Graduate .208 How to use SWAT and the HAWQS System Chunggil Jung Postdoctoral .0833 Model development using SWAT and MODFLOW Yihun Taddele Technical .0833 How to use SWAT and the HAWQS System David Cote Technical .05 How to use SWAT and the HAWQS System Objective 2 - Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources across agricultural, municipal and industrial uses including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Name Role FTE Training Received Carlos Castro-Lopez Undergraduate .07 Equipment safety, field methods Stephen Stresow Undergraduate .167 Equipment safety, field methods Julia Ritchie Undergraduate .083 Equipment safety, field methods Tristin Hooks Graduate .083 Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Anastasia Thayer Graduate ..083 Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Jorge Solorzano Diaz Graduate .25 Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Jose Chavez Ortiz Graduate .417 Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Uriel Cholula Rivera Graduate .458 Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Joel Arce Technical .083 Equipment safety and field methods Christina Perez Technical .641 Equipment safety and field methods Eduardo Garcia Technical .451 Equipment safety and field methods Objective 3 - Develop research and demonstration tools focused on improving the management of water at all scales (on-farm, M&I systems, canal operation and irrigation district) within the Basin. Name Role FTE Training Received Samann Mostafazadeh-Fard Graduate .15 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Jorge Preciado Graduate .5 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Dhruva Kathuria Graduate .712 UAS operation and irrigation programming Jessica Hill Technical .58 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Gay Lenzo Technical .04 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Timothy Lower Technical .02 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Joseph Millette Technical .05 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Amenda Pacheco Technical .32 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Ross Palmer Technical .29 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Latisha Romine Technical .34 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Kevin Boyko Technical .05 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Robert Sabie Technical .5 UAS operation and irrigation programming Objective 4 - Identify the most economically efficient use of fresh and marginal water supplies to attain its highest social and agricultural value. Name Role FTE Training Received Bingu Sheng Graduate .312 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Lizhihan Yu Graduate .25 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Meng Jiang Graduate .375 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Xiaoyang Deng Graduate .083 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Minglu Wang Graduate .25 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Michael Espinoza Undergraduate .375 R Language, data collection methodology, coursework Jose Garcia Diaz Undergraduate .083 R Language, data collection methodology, coursework Naima Farah Postdoctoral .333 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models Chengcheng Fei Postdoctoral .125 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models Objective 5 - Broaden outreach, demonstration, teaching and tools to facilitate efficient use of all available water resources for regional stakeholders. N/A How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All education programs are previously listed and beyond this, no other results have yet been developed for dissemination. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. Scenario analysis of the Rio Grande head water, Upper Rio Grande and Upper and Lower Pecos watersheds will be built and calibrated. This will consist of running IPSL (representative for the hottest and driest scenario), extending the climate scenario runs to Upper and Lower Pecos watersheds, evaluating regional irrigation use, evaporative losses, conveyance loss, return flow, and salinity levels within the Rio Grande project area at control locations provided by Objective 4, estimating both urban and agricultural water demands and river inflows under different climate change scenarios (wet vs. dry), and assisting in public outreach. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Work in year 3 will consist of continued efforts of conducting multi-year field evaluations of saline and reclaimed water at the El Paso, TX, Pecos, TX, Weslaco, TX, Artesia, NM research sites. Evaluation of switchgrass, sorghum, and canola performance under elevated salinity will be completed. Phytoremediation using salt tolerant Barley will be evaluated as well as the suitability of halophyte crops (e.g. Quinoa). Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. Planned work in year 4 will focus in the upper Rio Grande Basin to incorporate water projects, simulate groundwater lift change for major aquifers, assign surface water rights to control points, construct reservoir interaction with river water, project future MI demand, population growth and water availability, simulate climate change scenarios with a shift in ENSO probability as well as estimate impact on employment and economic activity through the use of IMPLAN and appropriate multipliers. Lower Rio Grande model will be refined to consider using saline surface water and blending saline and freshwater for irrigation, the construction of a payment scheme to encourage utilization of saline water for irrigation, and an update of future water availability under different climate change scenarios (from SWAT simulation).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. The major task of objective one is to evaluate the water availability in the Rio Grande Basin at current and projected future scenarios primarily using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). Work to date under this task for the last year includes calibration and validation of a hydrologic model for ten sub basins (HUC-6 level) that constitute the Rio Grande basin. Based on the already calibrated models, work is progressing to evaluate the impact of climate change and a deficit irrigation on water availability. The evaluation of climate change impact on water availability is solely focused on the Rio Grande headwaters and upper Rio Grande sub basins where the river flow primarily relies on the snowpack and is vulnerable to climate change. The calibrated RG headwater and upper RG watersheds models are used to build climate scenarios based on precipitation and temperature estimates for the years 2006 to 2099. Representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5 (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) are applied in the setting up of the scenarios. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Ongoing studies at all four (Lubbock, Artesia, El Paso, Weslaco) study sites are evaluating crop responses, soil changes and enterprise budgets for different crops. Alternative irrigation water appropriate for each study site is being used to evaluate crop responses, and soil salinity changes using saline groundwater in Lubbock, Artesia and Weslaco and treated municipal wastewater in El Paso. At El Paso, Weslaco in TX and Artesia, NM PIs are continuing field studies that are evaluating performance of switchgrass, and energy sorghum during summer and canola during winter. Progress during last has been made and recently completed harvesting of energy sorghum and switchgrass as well as conducting salt tolerance studies on several pecan rootstocks. Biomass yields were recorded and quality parameters were analyzed from energy sorghum and switchgrass. Canola was planted during fall, which will be irrigated with saline water and fresh water. Plots will be maintained plots as needed with field technicians and students (weeding, irrigating, plant counts, fertilization, pest control) and water samples will be collected after each irrigation event and analyzed for quality parameters. End of the year soil and plant samples were collected and are being analyzed for physical, chemical and microbial properties. Katie Lewis and Jane Dever modified the research plans to use saline groundwater instead of produced water. Due to rabbit herbivory in 2018, trials were moved to a location near Garden City. Water quality at this location is comparable to previous site near Pecos, TX. Soil samples and cotton cultivars were collected in both Pecos and Lubbock, TX (Lubbock is the control site). Cotton in Garden City was sprayed with a herbicide and cotton did not survive. We collected soil samples and planted cotton cultivars in May 2019. The same was done in Lubbock, TX (control site). Cotton in Garden City was sprayed with herbicide, and cotton did not survive. Cotton was harvested and soil samples collected at the Lubbock location. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. We have set up and utilize the RIVERSIM model for the Rio Grande where it is nearly complete for both Texas and New Mexico. The model is designed to optimize water management portfolio and soon to explore alternative non-traditional water sources including wastewater and saline water. It also examines construction of water projects to maintain agricultural production and meet sectoral water demand under population growth and climate change. We also include the information on El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Decadal Climate Variability (DCV) ocean phases to examine whether early notice of ocean phases would help regional adaption to water scarcity by adjusting the crop mix and livestock mix. In addition, econometric studies have been done to estimate the effects of ENSO and DCV phenomena on headwaters river inflows, climate, and crop yields. Two articles are currently being drafted from the studies: one on the Lower Rio Grande Valley and another on the Upper Rio Grande.

Publications

  • Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Nishita Sinha, Ron Lacewell and Luis Ribera, A Dry-Year Option Program for the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas, Center for North American Studies, Issue Brief 2018-02, May 2018
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Samul Zapata and Greg Torrell, Economic implications of salinity on agricultural production: Challenges and Opportunities, Presented at Managing Under Drought: Water Management Information for Growers in the Middle Rio Grande, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center at El Paso February 19, 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hooks, T. and G. Niu. Relative salt tolerance of four herbaceous perennials. Horticulturae 2019, 5, 36; doi:10.3390/horticulturae5020036
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hooks, T., G. Niu, and G. Ganjegunte. 2019. Seedling emergence and seedling growth of mustard and rapeseed genotypes under salt stress. Agrosystems, Geoscience & Environment.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2019 Citation: Jose Carlos Chavez, Juan Enciso, G. Ganjegunte, N. Rajan, J. Jifon, V. P. Singh. 2019. Growth Response and Productivity of Sorghum for Bionergy Production in Texas. Transactions of the ASABE. Vol 62(5)1207-1218. ISSN 2151-0032 https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.13317
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Juan Enciso, Jose C. Chavez, Girisha Ganjegunte and Samuel D. Zapata. 2019. Energy Sorghum Production under Arid and Semi-Arid Environments of Texas. Water, 11(7), 1344; https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071344 (registering DOI).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Enciso Juan, Carlos A. Avila, Jinha Jung, Sheren Elsayed-Farag, Anjin Chang, Junho Yeom, Juan Landivar, Murilo Maeda, Jose C. Chavez. 2019. Validation of agronomic UAV and field measurements for tomato varieties. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. Volume 15, March 2019. Pages 278-283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2019.02.011
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Awika Henry, Renesh Bedre, Junho Yeom, Thiago Marconi, Juan Enciso, Kranthi Mandadi, Jinha Jung, Carlos Avila, 2019. Developing Growth-Associated Molecular Markers Via High-Throughput Phenotyping in Spinach. The Plant Genome. Vol. 12 No. 3. Pages 1-19. 10.3835/plantgenome2019.03.0027
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Presented poster at SSSA meetings Nov 12, 2019 Demonstration of Bioenergy Crop Growth in New Mexico Under Saltwater Irrigation Flynn, R.P., G. Ganjegunte, L. Lauriault, and A. Ulery. SSSA San Antonio, TX
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pinon-Villarreal, A.R., Samani, Z.A., Bawazir, A.S., and Bleiweiss, M.P. 2019. Correcting the edge effect for sensor spatial response in evapotranspiration estimation through remote sensing. ASCE Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Water Budget for Flood Irrigated Pecan. W. Hargrove, R. Heerema, Z. Samani et al.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Impact of sensor spatial response in field ET estimate through remote sensing. A. Pinion, Z. Samani, S. Bawazir. Accepted for publication in ASCE J. of Irrig. & Drainage Engineering, Dec. 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sabie et al 2020. Effects of airborne sensor calibration techniques on estimating evapotranspiration, in prep
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Xue, Q., S. Thapa, K. E. Jessup, T. H. Marek, and J. M. Bell. 2019. corn response to limited irrigation in the Texas High Plains. ASA-CSSA-SSSA, 2019 International Annual Meetings, Nov. 10-13, 2019, San Antonio, TX.


Progress 05/01/18 to 04/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for outreach efforts during this period mainly consisted of water supply managers, regional water planners, agricultural producers, and professional organizations. Of these groups presentations were given at 11 professional organization events reaching 2,505 individuals, 5 presentations were given to regional water planners and water supply managers reaching 578 attendees, and 6 presentations were given to agricultural producers and county extension agents reaching 427 individuals. Additionally, 8 individuals have agreed to serve on the advisory board and participated in last year's annual meeting. Changes/Problems:Vendors for sensors associated with the aerial data collection component Objective 3 took longer than anticipated to fill the order; however, the project team has received the sensors and they have been mounted on the aircraft. Otherwise, there were no problems or needed changes to the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Objective 1 - Evaluate water sources, including nontraditional sources, for urban, agricultural and ecosystem use under changing climate, water management and demographics. Name Role Part Time/Full Time FTE Training Received Responsibility Essayas Ayana Postdoctoral Part Time .083 How to use SWAT and the HAWQS System Data collection and model development Jaclyn Tech Technical Full Time .139 N/A Databases management Minki Hong Graduate Student Part Time .333 Modeling development and ET data interpretation, coursework Model development and ET calculation Objective 2 - Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources across agricultural, municipal and industrial uses including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Name Role Part Time/Full Time FTE Training Received Responsibility Triston Hooks Graduate Student Part Time .083 Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Field trail labor, data analysis Esther Lopez Undergraduate Student Part Time .233 Equipment safety, field methods Field trial labor Christina Perez Technical Full Time .038 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Pricilla Reyes Undergraduate Student Part Time .11 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Carlos Castro-Lopez Undergraduate Student Part Time .11 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Monique Ontiveros Undergraduate Student Part Time .109 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Makenzie Bradley Undergraduate Student Part Time .012 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Reid Barker Undergraduate Student Part Time .01 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Conner Steel Undergraduate Student Part Time .003 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Nathan Wood Undergraduate Student Part Time .013 Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Field trial labor Joel Arce Technical Full Time .167 Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses. Collecting soil samples, analyzing samples for chemical and physical composition Nana Kusi Graduate Student Part Time .125 Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Collecting soil samples, analyzing samples for chemical and physical composition Lindsay Keller Graduate Student Part Time .234 Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Collecting soil samples, analyzing samples for chemical and physical composition John Dyes Undergraduate Student Part Time .035 Management of soil salinity in cotton, coursework Field trail labor, data analysis Amanda Pacheco Technical Full Time .166 Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses. Collecting soil samples, analyzing samples for chemical and physical composition Objective 3 - Develop research and demonstration tools focused on improving the management of water at all scales (on-farm, M&I systems, canal operation and irrigation district) within the Basin. Name Role Part Time/Full Time FTE Training Received Responsibility Sheren Elchahat Post Doc Full Time .25 Irrigation system operation Watering field trails association with objective Jose Ortiz Chavez Graduate Student Part Time .167 Irrigation methodologies and field plot research, coursework Assist in development of crop coefficients Urie Cholula Rivera Graduate Student Part Time .167 UAS operation and irrigation programming Operating UAS systems Dhruva Kathuria Graduate Student Part Time .002 ET data interpretation and model development Development of ET decision support tool Robert Sabie Graduate Student Part Time .75 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Evaluate aerial imagery and develop crop coefficients Kevin Boyko Graduate Student Part Time .106 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Evaluate aerial imagery and develop crop coefficients Timothy Lower Undergraduate Student Part Time .008 Equipment Safety Field Labor Robert McCoy Undergraduate Student Part Time .105 Equipment Safety Field Labor Joseph Millette Undergraduate Student Part Time .018 Equipment Safety Field Labor Jorge Preciado Graduate Student Part Time .49 Aerial imagery analysis, Crop coefficient development, coursework Evaluate aerial imagery and develop crop coefficients Objective 4 - Identify the most economically efficient use of fresh and marginal water supplies to attain its highest social and agricultural value. Name Role Part Time/Full Time FTE Training Received Responsibility Yu Lizhihan Graduate Student Part Time .125 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Collect data for RIVERSIM model ChengCheng Fei Graduate Student Part Time .208 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Collect data, develop RIVERSIM model Bingru Sheng Graduate Student Part Time .042 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Collect data for RIVERSIM model Zidong Wang Graduate Student Part Time .125 ArcGIS, Python, R language, Groundwater Availability Models, coursework Collect data, develop RIVERSIM model Objective 5 - Broaden outreach, demonstration, teaching and tools to facilitate efficient use of all available water resources for regional stakeholders. N/A How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All education programs are previously listed and beyond this, no other results have yet been developed for dissemination. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. Work during the next reporting period will consist of continued model calibration and refinement for the Devils watershed model, Rio Grande Elephan Butte reach, and the Rio Grande Mimbres model. Models will also verify evapotranspiration, reservoir storage, and irrigation water to improve simulation accuracy of inflows. The models will also evaluate and provide regional irrigation use and return flow of irrigated agriculture. Future efforts will assess the flow vs. salinity relationship at locations where salinity data is obtained, evaluate alternative methods in salinity simulation and incorporate them in scenario analysis, estimate both urban and agricultural water demands and river inflows under different climate scenarios, gain a better understanding of groundwater surface water interaction, potential applications, and test land surface models, and assist in public outreach. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Work in year 3 will consist of continued efforts of conducting multi-year field evaluations of saline and reclaimed water at the El Paso, TX, Pecos, TX, Weslaco, TX, Artesia, NM research sites. Data from the previous year will be analyzed and crops for next year will be planted at research sites. Data collected from these crops will include soil samples from root-depths, harvested crops, leaf indices and other parameters. Results will be submitted for peer review publication. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. Work next reporting period will consist of completing IMPLAN assessments after getting the optimal allocation strategy from RIVERSIM. As initial RIVERSIM results become available these results will be vetted by the objective team for potential improvements to accuracy and assumptions. Relevant IMPLAN data sets will be purchased, sector matches will be finalized, and initial impacts will be calculated for selected activities. Models will then be extended to New Mexico and Colorado.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. Work to date under this task for the last year includes calibration and validation of a hydrologic model for ten sub basins (HUC-6 level) that constitute the Rio Grande head water, upper Rio Grande, Rio Grande to Elephant Butte, Elephant Butte to Presido station, upper and lower Pecos, Rio Grande to Amistad, Devils, Rio Grande to Falcon and Lower Rio Grande. All the models for these watersheds have been built and calibration efforts were made. In some instances, these watersheds were also divided into sub watersheds based on the possible dominant hydrologic process that govern stream flow generation, evapotranspiration and related processes. A point in case is the Rio Grande headwater which is split into Rio Grande headwater and Upper Rio Grande watersheds. So far the Rio Grande head water, Upper Rio Grande and the Pecos watersheds (Upper and Lower) are calibrated for stream flow. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. To date salinity tolerance of several cultivars of upland cotton, switchgrass, energy sorghum, canola, pomegranate and pecan root stocks have been evaluated. During 2018 research plans were developed for conducting multi-location field studies at Lubbock, Pecos, El Paso, and Weslaco in Texas and Artesia in NM. While cotton is the focus crop at Lubbock and Pecos study sites, bioenergy and horticulture crops are being evaluated at other locations. During the summer of 2017 & 2018, responses of switchgrass and energy sorghum under irrigation with alternative waters (treated wastewater in El Paso, saline groundwater in other locations) and resulting changes to rootzone soil properties were evaluated. Plant physiological responses were recorded at El Paso study site. For the year 2017, biomass yields were recorded and bioenergy quality parameters were analyzed. 2018 biomass and bioenergy quality parameters data are currently being analyzed. During the fall of 2018, canola grown with alternative waters at El Paso. Canola seed yield and oil content have been recorded. Baseline and end of the year soil samples from different depths of root zone of target crops have been collected and analyzed for 2017. Preliminary data on soil salinity changes are available is currently being analyzed. Results have been disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings (7) and journal articles (9 published and 3 submitted). In addition to presentations and journal articles, one professional development opportunity was provided to stakeholders at the Beltwide Cotton Research Conference. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. Year 2 work began with conducting additional literature reviews on water resources (groundwater, off channel storage potential, desalination of brackish groundwater and ocean water) to release water to agriculture as well as collecting information on planned regional water projects and estimated population growth. This data was used to lay the groundwork for building the IMPLAN component of the analysis as RIVERSIM results come available. RIVERSIM is currently being run for the Texas portion of the study area with all available data and beginning to yield solutions on projects adopted under water scarcity. Regressions for willingness to pay for water hardness reductions have shown positive and significant willingness to pay estimates and work will continue into the next reporting period. These initial results will be vetted by the objective team for potential improvements to accuracy and assumptions. Finally, "A Dry-Year Option Program for the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas" was published.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kelly, C. M., J. Osorio-Marin, N. Kothari, S. Hague, and J. K. Dever. 2019. Genetic improvement in cotton fiber elongation can impact yarn quality. Industrial Crops and Products 129:1-9.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ayele, A., M. Sheehan., C. Kelly, P. Payton, J. K. Dever and V. Morgan. 2018. Diversity of drought stress response, yield, and fiber quality in cotton. Field Crops Research. August 2018.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2018 Citation: Suthar, J. D., I. Rajpar, G.K. Ganjegunte, G.Niu, Z. Shah and K. Grover. Performance of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) accessions for germination process, growth and ion uptakeof under salt-stress condition. Journal of Agronomy and Crop Science.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hooks, T., G. Niu and G.K. Ganjegunte. Relative Salt Tolerance of 11 Varieties of Mustard (Brassica juncea) and Rapeseed (B. napus) During Seedling Emergence and Seedling Growth. Journal of Crop Improvement.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Girisha Ganjegunte, April Ulery, Genhua Niu & Yanqi Wu. 2019. Soil organic carbon balance and nutrients (NPK) availability under treated wastewater irrigation for bioenergy sorghum production in an arid ecosystem. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science 65:345-359.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Abudu, S., Z. Sheng, and G.K. Ganjegunte. 2018. Assessing vegetable growth and yield response to graywater irrigation. American Journal of Agricultural Research 3:19. DOI:10.28933/ajar-2018-06-0501.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Suthar, J. D., I. Rajpar, G.K. Ganjegunte and Zia-ul-hassan. 2018. Evaluation of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) genotypes performance under different irrigation water salinity levels: Growth parameters and seed yield. Industrial Crops and Products 123:247253.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Suthar, J. D., I. Rajpar, G.K. Ganjegunte and Zia-ul-hassan. 2018. Comparative study of early growth stages of 25 guar (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba L.) genotypes under elevated salinity. Industrial Crops and Products 123:164172.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ganjegunte, G.K., G. Niu, A. Ulery, and Y. Wu. 2018. Treated urban wastewater irrigation effects on bioenergy sorghum biomass, quality and soil salinity in an arid environment. Land Degradation & Development 29:534542.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ganjegunte, G.K., G. Niu, A. Ulery, Y. Wu. 2018. Organic carbon, nutrient, and salt dynamics in saline soil and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) irrigated with treated municipal wastewater. Land Degradation & Development 29: 80-90.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Ganjegunte, G.K., J.A. Clark, M. Parajulee, S. Kumar and J. Enciso. 2018. Evaluation of sulfur burner for salinity management in irrigated cotton fields in the arid west Texas. Agrosystems, Geosciences & Environment 1:180006. DOI:10.2134/age2018.04.0006.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sun, Y., G. Niu, J.G. Masabni, and G. Ganjegunte. 2018. Relative salt tolerance of 22 pomegranate (Punica granatum) cultivars. Hortscience 53: 1513-1519
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sun, Y., G. Niu, G. Ganjegunte, and Y. Wu. 2018. Salt tolerance of six switchgrass cultivars. Agriculture 8, 66; doi:10.3390/agriculture8050066
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Cox, C., L. Jin, G. K. Ganjegunte, D. Borrok, V. Lougheed, and L. Ma. 2018. Soil quality changes due to flood-irrigation in agricultural fields along the Rio Grande in western Texas. Applied Geochemistry 90:87-100.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Enciso J., Elsayed-Farag S., Jung J., Avila C., Chang A., Yeom J, Landivar J., Maeda M. 2018. Validation of agronomic UAV and field measurements for tomato varieties. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sinha, Nishita, Lacewell, Ron, and Ribera, Luis. (2018). A Dry-Year Option Program for the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. CNAS Issue Brief 2018-01.


Progress 05/01/17 to 04/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for outreach efforts during this reporting period mainly consisted of agricultural producers, water utility managers, water supply managers, and both state and federal agency personnel. Agricultural producers were reached through the delivery of five education events where 186 individuals were in attendance. Water utility managers, water supply managers, and agency personnel were reached out to directly (via email, phone, or in person) and asked to participate in an advisory board. Eight individuals have agreed to participate in this capacity and represent both a variety of interests as well as various regions along the Rio Grande. Changes/Problems:The field at Alamorgodo, NM was damaged due to improper use of desalination concentration, so the location was changed to Artesia, NM, and irrigation water was changed to brackish groundwater Due to the decline of oilfield production as well as oilfield water being reused on site, produced water is no longer a viable option nor can it be considered a reliable source for irrigation water. Instead of using produced water as an irrigation source, the research team will move forward with using brackish groundwater instead. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Triston Hooks Graduate Student Plot setup, plant breeding methodology, data collection and analysis, coursework Christina Perez Technical Equipment safety, field methods Joshua Frazier Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Mark Milholland Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework John Clark Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Makenzie Bradley Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Reid Barker Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Connor Steel Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Cody Halfmann Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Nathan Wood Undergraduate Equipment safety, plot harvester operation, gin operation, coursework Emily Creegan Graduate Student Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Jaime Grijalva Graduate Student Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Lindsay Keller Graduate Student Lab safety, soil sampling methods, routine soil chemical and physical analyses, coursework Nana Kusi Graduate Student Management of soil salinity in cotton, coursework How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All education programs are previously listed and beyond this, no other results have yet been developed for dissemination. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. Models for Rio Head Water and Upper Rio Grande are being calibrated using USGS flow and/or naturalized flow at various locations, whereas a model for the stretch of the Rio Grande from Elephant Butte to Presidio is being built. Models for the remaining seven sub basins will start toward the end of year 1 and beginning of year 2. A major challenge in this modeling task includes the existence of numerous reservoirs with limited outflow data and disparity in data quality-/quantity-level of detail for watersheds that stretch between the United States and Mexico. Such is the case for the stretch between Elephant Butte Reservoir in New Mexico and Presidio, TX. Land cover and soil data from Mexico and the United States sources will be collected, harmonized and mosaicked. First SWAT runs will focus on modeling water availability at a spatial scale that corresponds to the RIVERSIM implementation. This will serve as a base model upon which other alterations such deficit irrigation, irrigation systems and management, and impact of cropping on water requirement will be assessed. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Work will begin with the continued efforts of conducting multi-year field evaluations at the El Paso, TX, Pecos, TX, Weslaco, TX, and now Artesia, NM (instead of Alamogordo, NM) research sites. As a part of this, harvested fall canola is being evaluated for performance, and brackish and formation water at the Pecos, TX research site is being assessed. At the Artesia, NM site, switchgrass will be transplanted as opposed to direct seeding due to failed crop establishment in year 1 (resulting from high salinity). Other plots will be planted with crops such as cotton, energy cane, and sorghum and irrigated with various alternative waters. Plant performance parameters and soil samples from root-zone depths will be evaluated during the growing season as well as post-harvest. Using the results of these plot studies, the most suitable cropping varieties for saline environments will be selected. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. Work will include follow up on results to date with much more dry year option analysis planned. Willingness to participate in such an option will also be assessed, and it is anticipated that results will indicate significant willingness to pay and regional welfare gains. Outreach documents containing results will be developed outlining benefits and costs and made available to regional agricultural and nonagricultural stakeholders, regional and statewide policy groups as well as other interested parties. A functional initial RIVERSIM implementation will be completed in year 2. The scope of this model, in terms of water scarcity actions, will include a variety of components and water marketing solutions such as: 1) the dry year option, 2) different water development activities arising within the 2017 Texas State Water Plan from regions M and N, 3) alterations in power plant cooling demands potentially using saline water or alternative cooling systems or alternative fossil fuel feedstocks, 4) water reuse, 5) desalination, 6) deficit irrigation, 7) alterations in irrigation systems and management, and 8) potential irrigation use of lower quality waters, among other options. These strategies will be driven by input from irrigation farmers and irrigation district managers to provide incentives for win-win water conservation situations.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Examine how traditional and nontraditional water supplies can be used to meet water demands in a regional value-optimizing manner for a range of socio-climatic scenarios. To date, a SWAT model for the Rio Grande project area of San Marcial, NM to Presidio, TX has been built and calibrated using data collected consisting of streamflow, reservoir outflow, irrigation evapotranspiration, water quality, and implications of climate scenarios. The model will verify evapotranspiration, reservoir storage, and irrigation water to improve simulation accuracy of inflows. The model will also evaluate and provide regional irrigation use, evapotranspiration, and return flow of irrigated agriculture. This modeling effort will allow the project team to quantify traditional and nontraditional water sources. Demonstrate the appropriate use of saline and reclaimed water resources including revisions in cropping patterns and agricultural management practices. Field studies to evaluate bioenergy crops (switchgrass and energy sorghum) performance under elevated salinity were conducted and physiological parameters were recorded. Dry matter yield and biomass quality parameters have been recorded and are being evaluated. Also during the growing season, baseline and end of irrigation season soil samples from root zones were collected and analyzed. Fall canola performance under saline soils has been planted and is currently being evaluated. Data analysis will continue into the coming year. The first primary growing season of the project is upcoming so the majority of field trials to develop new cropping varieties and patterns will begin. Identify the economic feasibility of strategies for better using existing supplies and marginal waters leading to water allocation to its highest social and agricultural value. Researchers have examined the possibility of a dry year option - a water market where cities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas could acquire water on a temporary basis leasing it from agricultural producers. Water leasing is only allowed when water stays within a use class (agricultural or nonagricultural) and thus agricultural to nonagricultural temporary trades are not allowed. A dry year option would give cities the option of contracting with farmers a priority for the possibility of buying their water and later requiring the water if needed under dry conditions. The water supply is unstable/falling because of increased recent droughts and reduced deliveries from Mexico along with increased Mexican dam construction and water consumption. With this, along with a rapidly increasing population, a dry year option would give cities the opportunity to contract with farmers a priority for the possibility of buying their water in lieu of later requiring the water if needed under dry conditions. Such a program would improve water performance in agriculture by giving farmers sale-based incentives to conserve and would provide water for the growing nonagricultural use under dry conditions. In addition, an initial RIVERSIM modeling structure has been developed that will provide insight on river flow characteristics and water availability for the various water markets. Moving forward, work will consist of evaluating a dry year option and willingness to pay, the development of outreach documents outlining benefits and costs, and the completion of a functional RIVERSIM model.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tracy, John. Diversifying the Water Portfolio for Agriculture in the Rio Grande Basin: An Overview, Planning and Managing for Prolonged Drought in Far West Texas Summit, August 15, 2017, Texas AgriLife Research Center, El Paso, Texas.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sinha, Nishita. Water Option Contracts when Cities Water Rights are Superior: the Case of Lower Valley. Southern Agricultural Economics Association. February 4-7. Jacksonville, FL.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Tracy, John. Diversifying the Water Portfolio for Agriculture in the Rio Grande Basin: An Overview, Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Conference, January 8, 2018, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso Texas.