Irrigation Efficiency

Grades9, 10, 11, 12Biology, Earth and Space Sciences, Economics, Geography

Provided by Western Landowners Alliance

What it is

This article questions the common assumption that more efficient irrigation always conserves water, drawing on a study of flood irrigation along the White River.
Students learn that water from traditional flood irrigation seeps underground and returns to the river and wetlands over months, supporting springs, wildlife, and the wider community, a benefit that more efficient sprinklers can reduce.
The article introduces the idea of ecosystem services and shows how a practice that looks wasteful can play an important role in a watershed under a warming climate.

Classroom Implementation:

Before reading, ask students to predict whether switching from flood irrigation to sprinklers saves water, then revisit their predictions afterward to surface the counterintuitive finding.
Define and use the term "ecosystem services" as an anchor concept and have students list the specific services flood irrigation provides in this case, then discuss how these might be valued in decisions.

Extensions:

Create watershed models and conduct an experiment to compare the two practices.
Use this ecosystem services assessment activity to notice and categorize the ecosystem services of an environment.

Sustainable Development Goals Connections:

This resource can be used to make connections to Sustainable Development Goal 6, Clean Water and Sanitation, and Sustainable Development Goal 15, Life on Land.

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Standards alignment · HS-LS2-6. + 2 more

Science

HS-LS2-6.Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
HS-ESS3-1.Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the availability of natural resources, occurrence of natural hazards, and changes in climate have influenced human activity.

Social Studies

6.1.12.GeoHE.14.a:Evaluate the impact of individual, business, and government decisions and actions on the environment and climate change and assess the efficacy of government policies and agencies in New Jersey and the United States in addressing these decisions.