From The Pueblo Chieftain (Chris Woodka):
“Right now, knowing the evapotranspiration rate is important to determining how much water you’re using,” said Terry Scanga, general manager of the Upper Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District. “What makes this valuable is that 10-20 years from now, you’ll have good data. If you don’t have good data, then you’re not going to be able to prove consumptive use.”
The Upper Ark district is enlisting partners to install five stations in the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological Network. Two would be in Chaffee County, two in Fremont County and one in Custer County. Scanga said each station costs about $2,000 annually to operate, and all should be up and running by the end of the year. The network, sponsored by Colorado State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, operates about 15 stations in the Lower Arkansas Valley from Pueblo to Holly, and five in the Rio Grande basin. Statewide, there are about 70 sites…
…the data also are critical in other areas. At CSU’s Rocky Ford Agriculture Research Center, information is used for everything from crop variety analysis to calibration of a weighing lysimeter that is being used to develop a better regional ET model.
The Upper Ark district is inviting conservation districts, ditch companies or other agricultural interests to participate in the program.
More Arkansas Basin coverage here.