New innovations to help save the Colorado River
LAS VEGAS (NBC, KYMA) - After more than a decade of drought in the Colorado River Basin, the water source for 40 million people is hanging on by a thread. Now, there is some new innovations that could help save the river.
At a recent conference for users of Colorado River water, the worlds of conservation and innovation converged.
Peter Moller's company, Rubicon Water, is modernizing irrigation canals with smart control gates, moisture sensors in the soil interface with the gates, so water districts and farmers divert only what they need.
"We're stepping towards having a system that may not have any human intervention at all," Moller shared.
Grant Chaffin, a farmer from California started using the system last year saying, "We're saving about 30, 35 to 40% water."
From irrigation to outer space, farmers are also using satellites to save water.
Just because water is in a field, doesn't mean crops are consuming it.
Measuring Evapotranspiration (ET), the water that plants and soil send back to the sky, has long been a missing link.
ET data from satellites was never in a form non-scientists could understand.
OpenET is changing that, converting the data into visual displays.
"It's really easy to use and really informative for water users across the Colorado River Basin," said Sara Larsen with OpenET.
"It then allows people to have a much better sense of how much water their crop actually needs to grow," said Rachel O'Connor with the Environmental Defense Fund.
To curtail evaporation, Water Xience is pioneering solar panels over canals. The Arizona project was the first in North America. Shade from the panels reduces evaporation.
"We're seeing maybe like a five-degree difference in the water temperature, which is pretty big in evaporation," said Princesita Scott with Water Xience.
To create more rain and snow, Randy Seidl's company, Rain Enhancement Technologies, is taking cloud seeding high tech. Instead of dropping chemicals from planes, they send out ions from solar powered arrays.
"If it's going to rain or snow, we can help it rain or snow 15% more," Seidl explained.
Innovation alone won't save the Colorado, but without it, the water source for millions could vanish.
