A Colorado Groundwater Experiment Tackles Urgent Conservation Needs

A government scheme in Pakistan involves the construction of water-harvesting dams in areas that experience droughts, which allows farmers in the region to use the irrigation water from the dams for their crops. One farmer is growing onions and wheat and because of the access to water, his income has increased more than 60 percent. There are concerns about how helpful the water from the dams will ultimately be in the arid region, but there are plans to build more dams in the next few years.

A federally-funded water conservation program, the System Conservation Pilot Program, is paying farmers in the Upper Colorado River Basin to not use the river’s water during the irrigation season. Leaving their fields dry for the program can earn them more money than they would get from growing crops.

Environmental refugees in Ethiopia flee their country because there are no jobs without healthy land. A group of former refugees have returned to Ethiopia with a business venture in Gergera to improve the land by regreening efforts, foresting, and building water conservation systems. The new businesses demonstrated such positive effects that the region is now on the brink of resettlement due to improved environmental conditions.

Utah is ditching the “use it or lose it” water rights doctrine to encourage farmers to conserve water amid severe water shortages. Instead, it’s encouraging farmers to use less water while allowing them to keep their rights to it. The government is awarding funding for efficiency upgrades and creating a system for farmess to lease out the saved water.

The Utah state government is offering grants to encourage and enable farmers to invest in water-saving technology amid a severe drought. A farmer who wants to install a better irrigation system, like drip irrigation, will pay for half of the upgrade and the state will pay for the other half.

In the Ladakh region of Northern India, vertical artificial glaciers called “ice stupas” melt at a slower pace than natural glaciers, helping farmers to store water for irrigation during the spring drought. Through contests with cash prizes, more than 500 people in 45 villages have been trained to build their own ice stupas.

A nonprofit in India focused on supporting farmers, Urmul Seemant Samiti, is helping pastoralists transition to using hydroponics to grow fodder for their livestock amid increasing droughts. Alongside hydroponic fodder startup Hydrogreens, the organization trains pastoralists to use sprinkler systems to create fog that waters their indoor crops.

A combination of drought and financial incentives is encouraging farmers in Utah to adopt practices that consume less water like drip irrigation and even switching the crops they grow.

Farmers are upgrading to automated irrigation systems with 50-50 matching grants from the Utah Department of Agriculture. The systems save farmers’ time and water.

Farmers in Utah practice no-till farming to improve soil health and water retention amid an ongoing drought.