The purpose of this paper is to summarize the results of an investigation to determine whether Smart residential irrigation controllers with customized site specific programming, are an effective means of reducing irrigation water usage and the associated deep percolation in arid, salinity-rich soils. A joint effort between the Department of Agriculture (on-farm program) and Department of Interior (off-farm program) in reduce salt loading to the Colorado River has been underway for 25 years. Deep percolation has been quantified for agricultural land converted to residential sites in a previous two-year study. Four residential sites were monitored for a third year to evaluate the performance of Smart irrigation controller irrigating schedules. The results of the investigation provide Bureau of Reclamation and the Grand Valley community with information to support the implementation of best irrigation management practices to reduce ground water salinity loading.
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