California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements http://www.itrc.org/reports/pdf/energyreq.pdf ITRC Report No. R 03-006 California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements FINAL REPORT December 2003 Prepared for Public Interest Energy Research Program Energy in Agriculture Program California Energy Commission 1516 9th St. Sacramento, CA 95814 by Charles Burt, Dan Howes, and Gary Wilson Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 805-756-2429 www.itrc.org www.itrc.org California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements http://www.itrc.org/reports/pdf/energyreq.pdf ITRC Report No. R 03-006 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) gratefully acknowledges the following agencies for providing tremendous assistance with information utilized in this report to estimate agricultural energy use by sector and region throughout California. California Department of Water Resources United States Bureau of Reclamation California Energy Commission Kern County Water Agency Metropolitan Water District of Southern California Arvin-Edison Water Storage District Kern County Water Bank Semitropic Water Storage District The Irrigation Training and Research Center would also like to acknowledge the participants in the November 24, 2003 workshop for their time and effort with reviewing the draft report and providing ideas for future research. Mr. Ricardo Amón California Energy Commission Mr. Joe Lima Modesto Irrigation District Ms. Lucille Billingsley U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mr. Dirk Marks MWD of Southern California Mr. Dale Brogan Delano-Earlimart Irrigation District Mr. Tom Martin Durham Pump Co. Mr. Pete Canessa Center for Irrigation Technology Mr. Jonas Minton California Dept. of Water Resources Mr. Larry Dale Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Mr. Steve Robertson Robertson-Bryan, Inc. Mr. Mike Day Provost and Pritchard Engineering Group Dr. Larry Schwankl UC Extension, UC Davis Mr. Hicham ElTal Merced Irrigation District Mr. Harry Starkey Berrenda Mesa Water Storage District Mr. Russ Freeman Westlands Water District Mr. John Sugar California Energy Commission Mr. Andy Geyer Alsco-Geyer Irrigation Mr. Van Tenney Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District Mr. Lance Goldsmith Eurodrip Mr. Marc Van Camp MBK Engineers Dr. Blaine Hanson UC Extension, UC Davis Mr. Scott Willett San Diego Co. Water Authority Mr. Rick Iger Kern County Water Agency Dr. Dennis Wichelns Dept. of Agricultural Economics, FSU Dr. Pramod Kulkarni California Energy Commission Mr. Tony Wong California Energy Commission Mr. Steve Lewis Arvin-Edison Water Storage District DISCLAIMER Reference to any specific process, product, or service by manufacturer, trade name, trademark, or otherwise does not necessarily imply endorsement or recommendation of use by either California Polytechnic State University, the Irrigation Training and Research Center, the California Energy Commission, USBR, or any other party mentioned in this document. No party makes any warranty, express or implied, and assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any apparatus, product, process, or data described in this report. Irrigation Training and Research Center -i- CEC Ag Water Energy Analysis www.itrc.org California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements http://www.itrc.org/reports/pdf/energyreq.pdf ITRC Report No. R 03-006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... i Executive Summary .............................................................................................................. vii A. Water Currently Destined for Agricultural Irrigation ............................................. vii B. Transfer of Historical Agricultural Water to MWD ............................................... xii C. Potential Future Energy Requirements .................................................................. xiii D. Reservoir Sensitivity to Global Warming .............................................................. xix E. Impact of Water Policies ........................................................................................ xxi F. Future Research .................................................................................................... xxii Introduction ..............................................................................................................................1 Analysis Of Current Energy Requirements ..........................................................................2 District Surface Water Pumping ...........................................................................................2 District Groundwater Pumping .............................................................................................4 On-Farm Groundwater Pumping...........................................................................................6 On-Farm Booster Pumping .................................................................................................11 Conveyance to Districts ......................................................................................................15 Potential Future Energy Requirements ...............................................................................20 On-Farm Irrigation – Ideas to Reduce the Volume of Water Applied. ...............................20 Groundwater Banking .........................................................................................................27 Impacts from Future Water Transfers .................................................................................31 Urbanization ........................................................................................................................32 Desalination ........................................................................................................................36 Reservoir Storage Sensitivity to Climate Change ...............................................................40 Future Research .....................................................................................................................45 References ...............................................................................................................................46 Irrigation Training and Research Center -ii- CEC Ag Water Energy Analysis www.itrc.org California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements http://www.itrc.org/reports/pdf/energyreq.pdf ITRC Report No. R 03-006 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Zones used for the agricultural energy analysis. Zones 1 and 4 are included in Zone 3 on the map. ............................................................................................. viii Figure 2. Indicates the average energy requirement for agricultural irrigation water applied in each zone (KWh/AF) during an average year .......................................... ix Figure 3. Shows where the majority of energy is used in the state for agricultural pumping. However, Zone 15 is in Kern County and western Fresno and Merced Counties. Most of the zone energy is used in Kern County for pumping. .....................................................................................................................x Figure 4. Change in the power source used to operate on-farm pumps in California. 1979-1998 data from USDA Farm and Ranch Irrigation Surveys. 2003 data from ITRC pump company survey. ..........................................................................10 Figure 5. The added energy required for the basic operation of the three case studies ..........28 Figure 6. General schematic of how water banking is accomplished in Arvin-Edison WSD. .........................................................................................................................29 Figure 7. The relationship of energy cost/savings for Arvin-Edison WSD. The energy savings is seen every year where the energy cost is spread out, assuming three years of “take” out of 10 years. .................................................................................30 Figure 8. Trends in California’s agricultural acreage and farm numbers (1964-1997) (1998 Farm & Ranch Irrigation Survey - Census of Agriculture, USDA) ...............33 Figure 9. Approximated cost of importing water into MWD of SC compared to the cost of seawater desalination in 1990 and 2002. Adapted from a figure in Chaudhry, 2003. ........................................................................................................36 Figure 10. Salt-gradient solar pond. Figure provide by Frankenberger et al., 1999. .............38 Figure 11. Average annual inflow compared to the estimated usable storage ........................41 Figure 12. Reservoir sensitivity analysis of Friant Dam. The shaded area indicates the reduction in outflow during the peak summer months. ............................................42 Irrigation Training and Research Center -iii- CEC Ag Water Energy Analysis www.itrc.org California Agricultural Water Electrical Energy Requirements http://www.itrc.org/reports/pdf/energyreq.pdf ITRC Report No. R 03-006 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Total electrical energy requirement for agricultural water destinations by sector throughout California for an average year .................................................... vii Table 2. Estimated total applied irrigation water by source for an average