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MODELING HYDROLOGIC IMPACT OF WITHDRAWING THE GREAT LAKES WATER FOR AGRICULTURAL IRRIGATION 1
Author(s) -
He Chansheng
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1997.tb04124.x
Subject(s) - irrigation , environmental science , evapotranspiration , hydrology (agriculture) , agriculture , surface runoff , farm water , irrigation statistics , structural basin , growing season , water resource management , water conservation , agronomy , geography , geology , ecology , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , biology
Growing interest in agricultural irrigation in the Great Lakes basin presents an increasing competition to other uses of Great Lakes water. This paper, through a case study of the Mud Creek Irrigation District in the Saginaw Bay basin, Michigan, evaluates the potential hydrologic effects of withdrawing water for agricultural irrigation to the Great Lakes. Crop growth simulation models for corn, soybeans, dry beans, and the FAO Penman method were used to estimate the difference in evapotranspiration rates between irrigated and nonirrigated identical crops, based on climate, soil, and management data. The simulated results indicate that an additional 70–120 mm of water would be evapotranspirated during the growing season from irrigated crop fields as compared to nonirrigated identical plantings. Dependent upon the magnitude of irrigation expansion, an equivalent of about 1 to 5 mm of water from Lakes Huron‐Michigan could be lost to the atmosphere. If agricultural irrigation further expands in the entire Great Lakes basin, the aggregated potential of water loss to the atmosphere through ET from all five Great Lakes would be even greater.