While irrigation is necessary for growing and harvesting crops and contributing to the country’s agriculture, a major chunk of its costs is related to energy consumption. Irrigation systems are water-intensive, and the largest use of water in the country is for agricultural irrigation.
Irrigation requires thousands of pumps to deliver water from groundwater wells. Boosters, surface water diversions, and tailwater pits are also needed, which account for energy expenses worth billions of dollars every year.
Energy use is necessary for irrigation in agriculture, as crops like corn, alfalfa, orchard fruits, and soybeans are grown in huge quantities in the country. Since water consumption is needed for irrigation, the annual costs of various water delivery systems also include energy costs.
The majority of irrigation systems use energy to move water. Electricity is needed for pumps, sprinklers, and boosters, which has its own cost. In this guide, we’ll take a look at the areas where energy costs are being incurred to keep an irrigation system running.
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Energy For Moving Water
Since irrigation systems require water transportation, how much water is being consumed and delivered is important. Let’s suppose you need to irrigate a lawn with planted crops. If you’re going to irrigate one acre with 1-inch deep water, you would need more than 27,000 gallons of water!
Now imagine irrigating an acre with 1-foot deep water. This will require more than 325,000 gallons of water. However, the key to managing water and being smart about water consumption is understanding your irrigation system’s energy use.
Minimizing energy costs depends on electricity usage. This means figuring out how much power you’re using, the time duration, and when you’re using it. So the energy cost would amount to the cost of pumping plus the kilowatt per hour multiplied by the gallons of water.
Addressing Issues To Make Improvements
Being energy efficient means finding ways to decrease power usage and ensure efficient water consumption. If you’re using a water pump, you need to maintain a rate at which there is operational efficiency. This means the pressure should be right, and you should only be pumping water that is needed, with minimal wastage.
Pumping efficiency will also depend on the pump’s design, maintenance, and other management decisions. To address the issues and make improvements, you need to make better management decisions.
Test the irrigation system regularly for a better idea of its efficiency. Once you figure out the costs and problems, you can look for a solution.
Irrigation Solutions
There are different solutions available to reduce energy and maintain a prime irrigation system. If you don’t have a clear understanding of the solutions, you can start by consulting a pump operator. They will let you know if your pump is at its operational efficiency or if its drawing excess water from the wells.
Get Smart Irrigation Systems
For resetting pressure in the vales, fixing leaks in the system, scheduling fine-tuning, and replacing incorrect parts, you would require manual labor. However, finding a smart solution to these problems can contribute to irrigation efficiency. It will improve your irrigation system and decrease energy costs.
The solution is smart irrigation. This would also include using technology for smart water management. You would be able to monitor the system and water pumps and learn more about their performance.
Smart irrigation technology also sends out alerts that help assess minor problems before they become huge issues. You can immediately check out the problems and troubleshoot them very easily and quickly. If water starts overflowing, smart irrigation can shut off the value to minimize wastage and damage.
Maintaining Your Landscape’s Health
In a well-manufactured and designed irrigation system, the pumps, panels, pipes, and other electrical components can last for at least twenty years, even in extreme environmental conditions.
You have to make sure that you’re keeping everything as energy efficient as possible and replacing the old parts when they start increasing your energy costs. This will also ensure that you don’t have to deal with any insurmountable problems.
How Flatwater Sales Inc. Can Help
Check out Flatwater Sales Inc. if you’re looking for irrigation-related supplies. They are an online store with various irrigation system parts, including center pivot sprinkler irrigation. To get started with smart water management, you can buy used center pivots, center drives, running lights, u-joints, contractors, control panels, sprinklers, and much more.
They also have a variety of irrigation pipes, and pivot booster pumps for efficient and smart irrigation systems. To learn more about their products, used equipment, shipping procedures, and updates, reach out to them today.
