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Irrigation Guide

USBR Water Manage- 
ment Plan

Water Quality Data

HAND PROBE

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FIVE DOLLAR GADGET CAN HELP PRODUCE MORE PROFITABLE CROPS

Sometimes the simplest, most obvious approaches to efficient water management escape us.

A case in point: any farm shop can make a tool for a few dollars which can produce answers to many questions facing growers seeking to improve irrigation efficiency. Such questions as: When is the crop soil profile filled? When is water being lost to the underground? Have efforts to deal with infiltration problem areas been successful? Has changing the run length or employing surge flow irrigation improved irrigation uniformity?

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 This sounds like data obtained through a sophisticated water management analysis. Actually, it can be obtained by using a simple hand-held probe made from five feet of 3/8" steel rod with a bulbed and pointed lower end and a short pipe crossbar handle at the top. It can easily be pushed into wet soil to measure water penetration during an irrigation. It tells the user when he hits dry soil.

When you can determine the water penetration depth at any point in the field at any given time you can learn the answers to the questions posed above, among others.

Consider the lowly hand-held probe! It's a "super gadget" in the efficient management of irrigation water which can lead to big dollar savings on water and more profitable crops.

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