Assessment of Methodology Required to Quantify Irrigation Return Flows

摘要

Good water management requires that all available water in a stream-aquifer system be properly accounted for. In the semiarid West the major water demand is for agricultural irrigation. Significant portions of diverted irrigation water return to the stream. The amount and timing of irrigation return flow is difficult to quantify. The study's goals were (1) to identify the existing methodologies for return flow quantification, and (2) to suggest potential field sites that might be appropriate for field testing of the more promising methodologies.