North Plains Water News

July 2024

2023 Annual Production Results

The district staff have rapped up 2023 production and here are the results from those reports.

Municipal, Commercial, Industrial, and Agriculture water user groups reported 1,651,075 acre-feet groundwater production in the North Plains Groundwater Conservation District in 2023.

Production by County in acre-feet is as follows:

The 2023 groundwater production from the district is lower than the 5-year historical production average by approximately 33,100 acre-feet.

The table below represents annual groundwater production in acre-feet from 2019 to 2023 collectively from all aquifers in the district.

Texas Water Development Board Water Quality Testing within the District.

Christopher Goldman with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) spent some time in the district conducting water quality tests on domestic, city and agricultural wells. Mr. Goldman, with the help of Natural Resource Specialist Braden Cadenhead tested about 10 wells during the week of June 27th and about 15 more the week of July 22nd, spanning from Spearman to Dalhart. This is an ongoing project in cooperation with the TWDB.

This project started decades ago, with the purpose of monitoring changes in the quality of groundwater over time and to establish a baseline quality of groundwater occurring naturally in the state's aquifers. The tests conducted once every four years check for bacteria, nitrates, arsenic, fluoride, radium, uranium, Volatile Organic Compounds, pesticides, sulfates, and other metals.

For more information on this project go to the TWDB website here.

Groundwater Management Area 1 Initiates 5th Round of Joint Water Planning

North Plains GCD Board member and GMA 1 President Bob Zimmer, and the General Manager Janet Guthrie will be attending the first of a series of meetings ultimately establishing a Desired Future Condition for the Ogallala and Dockum aquifers serving the North Plains GCD.

Desired Future Conditions or DFCs are defined in Title 31, Part 10, §356.10 (6) of the Texas Administrative Code as "the desired, quantified condition of groundwater resources (such as water levels, spring flows, or volumes) within a management area at one or more specified future times as defined by participating groundwater conservation districts within a groundwater management area as part of the joint planning process."

The Desired Future Conditions are developed with guidance from a technical consultant considering these 9 factors:

1) aquifer uses or conditions within the management area, including conditions that differ substantially from one geographic area to another;

(2) the water supply needs and water management strategies included in the state water plan;

(3) hydrological conditions, including for each aquifer in the management area the total estimated recoverable storage as provided by the executive administrator, and the average annual recharge, inflows, and discharge;

(4) other environmental impacts, including impacts on spring flow and other interactions between groundwater and surface water;

(5) the impact on subsidence;

(6) socioeconomic impacts reasonably expected to occur;

(7) the impact on the interests and rights in private property, including ownership and the rights of management area landowners and their lessees and assigns in groundwater as recognized under Section 36.002 (Ownership of Groundwater);

(8) the feasibility of achieving the desired future condition; and

(9) any other information relevant to the specific desired future conditions.

At the most recent meeting, held July 18, 2024 the committee received a presentation from Intera regarding the aquifer uses and conditions within the management area, including conditions that differ substantially from one geographic area to another.

All meetings of the GMA are open to the public and you can find the Agenda and Meeting Materials here.

North Plains GCD - WCC Demonstrations for 2024

The 2024 growing season is now well underway and we have 3 exciting demonstrations being run this year.

Sharing water between silage crops and corn or cotton
Subsurface Drip compared to LEPA Center Pivot
Looking at the effectiveness of the Upterra structured water system

Water sharing between crops. How does sorghum silage fit into the rotation?

One of the biggest problems with irrigation in the Texas panhandle is not only the amount of water that can be pumped but also the rate at which it can be pumped. Most producers these days can’t pump enough water to keep up with a corn crop and so the answer has been to both bank stored soil moisture coming into the season, but also to share water between crops that have peak demands at different times. In this way, we aim to keep up with watering a smaller area at the critical time, to maximize water use efficiency. Sorghum silage has also been suggested as a viable alternative to growing corn silage as it is thought to have a better conversion of water into biomass. We aim to examine this question as to whether it has a valuable role to play in crop rotations growing silage under limited water conditions.

The water sharing study includes a full pivot that is split between grain corn and sorghum silage and a second pivot that is split between cotton and sorghum silage. We are replicating the conditions that many producers are facing. We are using soil moisture monitoring sensors from GroGuru and AquaSpy as decision support tools to make better informed irrigation decisions. Apart from understanding how best to share water between crops, we should also be able to compare the economics of adding sorghum silage into the rotation, rather than corn silage.

Drip irrigation compared to high-efficiency center pivot

As well pumping capacities are unfortunately getting lower, subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) is being looked at as an alternative to center pivot irrigation. The main question is whether or not the gain in efficiency from the SDI justifies the increase in initial cost and ongoing maintenance, compared to high-efficiency center pivot systems.

The North Plains Water Conservation Center (WCC) offers the unique opportunity to compare the two technologies side-by-side on the same farm with state-of-the-industry monitoring and oversight. This is the continuation of a multi-year study comparing the two delivery systems and the hope is that it could yield viable tools to assist growers in the future.

Upterra Structured Water

A new and interesting technology has emerged that makes water “behave more like rainwater”. The claim is that it will be absorbed into the soil better, the soil can hold more water, and that there is more water available to the plants. Early results around the Panhandle suggest that it is worth investigating and Upterra has donated a system for evaluation. It has been installed on the west pivot at the WCC and we can now conduct several comparisons.

There is silage sorghum being grown on the west pivot (with Upterra) and on the east pivot (without Upterra) so we can make some direct comparisons. We will need to consider starting moisture and previous crop rotations.
There are 5 seasons of soil moisture history on the west pivot using the GroGuru Continuous Rootzone Monitoring system. As such, there is a significant history of how well water moves in the soil and the effect of irrigation over many seasons. It will be interesting to see if there are any differences now that the Upterra system has been installed.
We will examine the economics of the system in both the A/B test with sorghum silage and with the historical corn yields compared to the treated corn in 2024.

More Reels Content from the WCC

We have another reel on our Facebook page with David Sloane, Ph.D., talking about our GroGuru probes at the WCC. Check it out here, and like our page to see more content like this!

Xeric Zone of the Month!

The xeric landscape of Mrs. Leona Caraway of Dumas has been selected by the district as this month’s Xeric Zone! A Xeric Zone is a landscape, or part of a landscape, that incorporates the principles of xeriscaping to reduce water used for landscaping, while maintaining a desired aesthetic. Caraway’s landscape utilizes rock mulch, low water use and native plants and significant hardscape to reduce the amount of turf requiring irrigation. At the same time, the plants have impressive blooms of color and attract and support abundant pollinators. The effect is a clean, colorful, rustic representation of the Southwest Region, that requires less water than a traditional lawn. While Caraway’s design features no turf areas, a xeriscape may utilize turf in reduced volumes and/or using turf varieties with lower water requirements. Native Buffalo Grass and Bermuda are better suited to the semi-arid climate of the northern Panhandle than some other varieties. Congratulations to Leona Caraway for being recognized as a water saver!

Be sure to send your nominations for a Xeric Zone that you know about to bbarnes@northplainsgcd.org or call us at 806-935-6401.

Upcoming 2024 Director Election!

The above map shows the North Plains GCD divided up into the seven precincts in which a Director for the Board is elected to represent their precinct. This year, the NPGCD has three (3) Board of Directors' positions up for election. In order to run, a candidate must be a resident and a registered voter in the precinct that the person desires to represent. The filing period opens July 20, 2024 and closes August 19, 2024.

The next District election will be held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 to fill the vacancy in Lipscomb County (Precinct 7), Texas, as well as for the officers in Ochiltree (Precinct 6), Texas, Hansford and Hutchinson Counties (Precinct 5), Texas. The election will be held during the November General Election. The November 5, 2024 election will be held within the respective confines of: Lipscomb County, Texas; Hansford County, Texas; Hutchinson County, Texas and Ochiltree County, Texas.

The current Board Members and their respective precinct are as follows:

Allan Frerich - Dallam County
Mark Howard - Hartley County
Justin Crownover - Sherman County
Harold Grall - Moore County
Bob Zimmer - Hutchinson & Hansford County
Danny Krienke - Ochiltree County
Vacant - Lipscomb County

The Board’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, adopting and monitoring the District’s annual budget, setting an annual tax rate and other fees to fund the budget, setting district goals, developing and implementing the district’s management plan, adopting and enforcing District Rules, ensuring the district operates within its statutory authority, and developing and implementing policies and other orders.

Important Dates for the Upcoming Election:

Last Day to File for a Place on the General Election Ballot: Monday, August 19, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.
Last Day to File a Declaration of Write-in Candidacy: Friday, August 23, 2024
Uniform Election Date: November 5, 2024

Are you are interested in running?

Contact District Election Administrator, Kristen Blackwell at klane@northplainsgcd.org

For more election information go here.

Important Links...

North Plains Groundwater Conservation District

(806) 935-6401

info@northplainsgcd.org

northplainsgcd.org

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