Director's Column

From the Source - Fall 1999

by G. Robert Kerr

Throughout history, agriculture has been vital to Georgia’s economy and way of life. Georgia farmers, particularly during drought years, have in recent years become more reliant on supplemental irrigation from streams, ponds, or wells to maximize crop production and avoid the vagaries of weather related crop shortages. As part of the Tri-State water compact negotiations, Georgia negotiators are evaluating the effects of significant agricultural irrigation water demands. Unfortunately, determining the volume of water used for irrigation under a range of weather, crop, and soil types is a difficult and complex process.

Many Georgia farmers obtain water for irrigation by pumping from underground aquifers. In the lower portion of the Flint River Basin in Southwest Georgia, farmers pump from the Floridan aquifer. The Tri-State negotiators are concerned with the large withdrawals from the Floridan aquifer because a significant percentage of the flow in the lower Flint River is supplied by the multiple freshwater springs adjacent to or in the bed of the Flint River and its tributaries. Computer models demonstrate that drawing down the Floridan aquifer during intense irrigation periods affects the spring flow into the surface waters. Current studies are designed to achieve more accurate information on these effects, as well as on any potential water quality and species habitat affects.

P²AD, through its partnership with the University of Georgia’s agriculture P2 programs, and through its industrial assessment program is focusing on helping these farmers and industries to minimize water loss and contamination.