Wyoming Framework Water Plan - Living Rivers Home Page

7.0 AVAILABILITY
! Increase support for developing new water sources, including new conveyance and storage
systems and incorporating into development plans appropriate environmental concerns.
! Maintain water conservation planning as an ongoing program.
! Promote policies which allow for the lease, sale, or transfer of “established water rights”
and/or the lease, sale, and transfer of water without jeopardizing established water rights,
whenever possible. (Irrigation Association, 2005)
Water conservation in Wyoming involves all uses including agriculture, municipalities, industry,
recreation, and environmental concerns. In the past, water conservation efforts were mainly focused on
improving efficiency of agricultural water use. As communities within the state have grown and changed,
there is a growing interest in flat water activities and streamflow-related recreation. Water conservation
has different meaning at different times of the year and to different water users. Given Wyoming’s
climate and topography, storage of spring runoff must be included in consideration of water conservation
for any water use sector (Tyrrell, 2004). The following is a discussion of water conservation activities
and opportunities.
7.3.2 Agricultural Water Conservation
The largest water savings by quantity are generally
realized by conservation in the agricultural sector, as it
represents the largest use of water in the state. For this
reason, much of the focus of water conservation is on
irrigation practices. In order to determine what future
conservation efforts will be effective, an inventory of
existing facilities is necessary. Major items of interest in
this inventory include conveyance facilities and irrigation
methods.
A significant portion of water diverted for irrigation
can be lost during conveyance to the field through seepage, deep percolation, phreatophytes, evaporation,
and so forth. Water is typically diverted from the river or stream into a canal or ditch, which is generally
of earth construction and unlined. The soils in many of the river basin valleys are predominantly gravelly
loams as they were formed on the alluvium of the many rivers, streams, and washes that are present in the
valleys. Water will quickly percolate through these granular soils. No extensive studies have evaluated
ditch conveyance losses across the state.
The USBR and WWDC have worked on joint funded projects where the open canal and lateral
system has been replaced with an enclosed gravity pressurized sprinkler system. The Sand Mesa project
on the Midvale Irrigation District is an example.
Membrane liners have been used with good results on some of the large USBR canals around the
state. Research has indicated that application of polyacrylamide (PAM) to the canal bottom and sides will
reduce seepage losses and increase transmission efficiencies.
Irrigation methods also present an opportunity for water conservation. In Wyoming, historically
flood irrigation was the most popular method used and still is very popular in spite of its low efficiency.
Efficiency of flood irrigation has improved through the use of gated pipe and surge valves. Use of this
technology has reduced water loss to seepage in laterals and to deep percolation that is not available to the
crops.
7-16