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May 31, 2005
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Welcome to the newsletter about all things water
in Montana!
MONTANA WATER NEWS will come your way via email every
month with fresh news about meetings and water topics that we hope is of interest to you. If you do not want to receive this
newsletter, please scroll down and follow the directions to unsubscribe. If you are seeing only
text in this email, or if it's not easy to read, please make sure your email program is set to view "HTML" messages,
or view the newsletter online in the newsletter archives. |
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New Device Helps Conserve Irrigation Water |
AM400 datalogger.
Photo courtesy of MK Henson
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During the last five
years many Montana landowners and irrigators have turned to innovative soil moisture
data loggers to improve irrigation efficiency. These easy-to-use, affordable
devices provide accurate reading of soil moisture and require very little physical
monitoring. There’s a fine line: over-watering saturates soil and even drowns
plants, and under-watering restricts plants from taking up nutrition and water
vital for growth. Sensors optimize water application to just the right amount. “Over
the last ten years more land owners have started using the sensor. We have over
100 people in Montana that we have helped install this device,” reports Mike
Morris, Project Manager for the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)
in Butte. NCAT has done considerable work to implement this new technology, which
Morris considers to be highly effective at saving water and energy. NCAT has
worked with several watershed groups in Montana’s Jefferson, Boulder, Big Hole,
Blackfoot, Ruby and Shields drainages.
The AM400 datalogger
is an electronic instrument that automatically stores measurements of soil moisture,
and produces graphs of past readings which can contain up to five weeks of information.
It sends a weak electric current up to six Watermark sensors. The sensors work
on the principle that wet soils tend to conduct electricity better than dry soils.
Each sensor is about the size of a bottle cork, and contains two electrodes embedded
in granular material resembling sand, covered with protective mesh and plastic.
As the soil gets wet, water moves across the granular material inside the sensor,
and electrical resistance decreases. Morris refers to this process as “taking
an x-ray of the soil. This technology enables us to see what is happening underneath
the soil.”
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Irrigators
can check moisture readings instantaneously at any sensor. Because they have
better control of how to apply water and when, owners of pivot irrigation systems
are more likely to benefit from soil moisture monitoring devices than operators
of hand line, wheel line, or flood systems. Still, this valuable tool requires
experimentation and observation by landowners across the state because soils,
crops and weather conditions vary so widely. Irrigator experience is an invaluable
asset throughout this process.
For more information
about this technology, go to http://www.ncat.org.
Information about the AM400 datalogger may be found at the MK Hansen web site
at http://www.mkhansen.com.
The
next issue of Montana Water News will include a report on effects of coalbed
methane discharge on fish assemblages, a student research profile, and a Montana
drought update. |
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Whirling
Disease Researchers Find Hope in the Madison |
Leah Steinbach Elwell, whirling
disease researcher, sorts worm
samples on the Madison River in
southwest Montana. (Photo courtesy
of Julie Alexander, MSU). |
Rainbow trout
in a Madison County reservoir have given a glimmer of hope to researchers trying
to understand and stem whirling disease in Montana, says the state's whirling
disease coordinator.
"They are not
absolutely resistant, but they are significantly resistant," Richard Vincent
said about rainbow trout that swim in the Willow Creek Reservoir three miles
east of Harrison. Vincent works for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks at Montana
State University.
Researchers haven't
found a solution for whirling disease in Montana, but the trout warrant continued
study, Vincent said. The encouraging strain of fish came from Wyoming between
1977 and 1981. Before that, the fish came to Wyoming from California.
For the full story,
click
here. |
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2005 Montana
AWRA Call for Abstracts |
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The Montana
Section of the American Water Resources Association recently released
a Call for Abstracts for its 2005 annual meeting “Surface Water/Ground
Water: One Resource” slated for October 27 and 28 in Bozeman.
Go
to the Montana AWRA web site at http://awra.org/state/montana/events/conference.htm
to
view and print out guidelines for the Call.
Deadline for submission
is July 14, 2005. |
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Operator
Basics 2005 Now Available! |
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Copies of the innovative
CD-ROM training tool for water and wastewater system operators, “Operator
Basics 2005,” are now available.
View details about
this exciting and free multimedia software at the Montana Water Center’s training
web site, http://water.montana.edu/training/
ob2005/default.htm. |
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GW Foundation Offering Research Awards |
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The Groundwater
Foundation, a national nonprofit groundwater education organization, is accepting nominations for its four national awards. These awards honor individuals who create a legacy of groundwater protection through local action, education, government service, and youth leadership.
You can visit
the Foundation's web site at http://www.groundwater.org for
more information, or contact the Foundation at info@groundwater.org,
or (402) 434-2740. All nominations must be received by July 14, 2005. |
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More
Facts about Water Use, Water Pricing, and Biodiversity
The UNESCO
Water Portal web site provides on-line access to all sorts of information
related to freshwater. All water managers are invited to
participate by providing information on activities, useful links, news and content
which they wish to share with others and generally make more widely available.
Visit the web site at http://www.unesco.org/water.
The last three issues of Water Portal have focused on watersheds, water quality
and fog. Here are a few quick facts from the long lists provided in each issue:
Water
Use:
- Worldwide, 70%
of the water that is withdrawn for human use is used for agriculture, 22% for
industry and 8% is used for domestic services. In general, these proportions
vary according to a country’s income: in low- and middle-income countries, 82%
is used for agriculture, 10% for industry and 8% for domestic services. In high-income
countries, the proportions are 30%, 59% and 11%, respectively.
- It is estimated
that the average person in developed countries uses 500-800 liters of water per
day, compared to 60-150 liters per day in developing countries.
Water
Pricing :
- Water has traditionally
been regarded as a free resource of unlimited supply with zero cost at supply
point and, at best, water users have been charged only a proportion of the costs
of extraction, transfer, treatment and disposal. All associated externality costs
of water have been ignored and users are offered very little incentive to use
water efficiently and not waste it.
- Developed countries
show a wide range of variation in water pricing: in Germany 1m costs $1.91 (USD),
in Denmark it cost $1.64, in Belgium $1.54, in the Netherlands $1.25, in France
$1.23, in the UK $1.18, in Italy $0.76, in Finland $0.69, in Ireland $0.63, in
Sweden $0.58, in Spain $0.57, in the United States $0.51, in Australia $0.50
and in Canada $0.40.
Biodiversity:
- Although freshwater
ecosystems such as rivers, lakes and wetlands occupy less than 2% of the Earth's
total land surface, they provide a wide range of habitats for a significant proportion
of the world's plant and animal species: the number of known freshwater species
worldwide is estimated at between 9,000 and 25,000, but this number is rapidly
decreasing due to human interference.
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So
many meetings, so little time. Even so, there are a few that water folks just
shouldn't miss!
Take special note of the newly announced Western
Wetlands Conference slated
for Denver in October 2005.
Find more information on these and other upcoming events on the
Events Calendar at MONTANA
WATER.
 26th
Summer Conference: Hard Times on the Colorado, Boulder, CO,
June 8 - 10, 2005 [INFO] |
5th
Annual Symposium of Management of Aquifer Recharge, Berlin, Germany, June 11
- 16, 2005 [INFO] |
30th
Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop, Shepherdstown, WV, June 13 - 17, 2005 [INFO] |
9th
Annual METC Summer School and Certification, Missoula, June 15 -
16, 2005 [INFO] |
22nd
National Meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation, Breckenridge,
CO, June 19 - 24, 2005 [INFO] |
Montana
Range Days, Clyde Park, June 20 - 22, 2005 [INFO] |
Headwaters
to a Continent: Tour for Teachers, Bozeman, June 23 - 29, 2005 [INFO] |
2005
AWRA Summit Specialty Conference, Honolulu, June 27 - 29, 2005 [INFO] |
Mississippi
River Basin Nutrients Science Workshop: Call
for Abstracts Deadline, St. Louis, MO, July 1, 2005 [INFO] |
2005
Community Involvement Conference Training, Buffalo, NY, July 12 - 15, 2005 [INFO] |
ASDSO
Advanced Technical Seminar on Dam Failure Analysis, Columbus, OH, July 12 - 15,
2005 [INFO] |
EWRI/ASCE
2005 Watershed Management Conference: Dam Removal Sediment Dynamics Session,
Williamsburg, VA, July 20, 2005 [INFO] |
Milk
River Tour Part II - Malta to Confluence, Fort Peck, July 20 - 22, 2005 [INFO] |
21st
Annual National Environmental Monitoring Conference, Washington, DC, July 25
- 27, 2005 [INFO] |
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