Resource Sustainability
Hazardous and Toxic Waste Remediation
Restoration of Rangelands Using Biosolids
Dr. Michael McFarland
In the United States, arid and semi arid rangelands provide forage for livestock production, habitat for native flora and fauna, watersheds for rural agriculture and urban uses, sources of nonrenewable minerals as well as open areas for recreation. These rangelands are in a variety of conditions ranging from severely degraded landscapes to fully functional ecosystems.
Biosolids land application represents a potentially cost effective remediation approach for improving the ecological health and productivity of affected alkaline rangelands. The overarching goal of this research is to determine the potential environmental, ecological and economic benefits of land applying lime-stabilized biosolids, aerobically digested biosolids and animal manures to restore severely degraded rangelands located in high mountain desert environments.
Water Resources Planning and Management
Iraqi Agricultural Extension Revitalization (IAER) Project
Dr. Jagath Kaluarachchi, Dr. Wynn Walker
Recently a consortium of US universities consisting led by Texas A&M University, with University of California at Davis, New Mexico State University, Utah State University, and Washington State University was awarded $5.3 million by the US Department of Agriculture to revitalize the Agricultural Extension Services of the Iraqi Government.The funding was provided by the US Department of State in collaboration with the Foreign Agricultural Services and Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Services (CSREES) of the USDA. The program will focus on five subject areas consisting of arid crops, extension methodology and agricultural economics, horticulture, livestock and animal health, and water and irrigation.
The Utah Water Research Laboratory of Utah State University will be the lead institute responsible for water and irrigation, and natural resources management. The training workshops and associated work will be conducted in Amman, Jordan, other third-country sites and in the U.S. The project will commence in January 2007 and continue for a period of 19 months.
Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources: A case study from the upper Blue Nile River Basin, Ethiopia
Dr. Ungtae Kim, Dr. Jagath Kaluarachchi
Water resources planning and management is a difficult task in many large river basins due to reasons such as non uniform spatial and temporal distributions of water resources compared to the demand locations and times. In the past two decades, planning and management efforts have become more difficult due to the increasing global population and human-driven climate change impacts.
The Nile River Basin of Ethiopia is a classic example experiencing these difficulties and the conditions are more difficult due to the poor water infrastructure. Recently, researchers from USU collaborated with the International Water Management Institute in Sri Lanka to better understand the hydrology and water resources of the upper Blue Nile River Basin. The overall goal of this research is to predict the impacts of climate change on hydrology and water resources of the basin such that this information can be used in water resources planning and management to ensure food security and sustainability. The work commenced in 2005 and will be completed in the latter part of 2008.
Air Quality Engineering and Management
Air Pollution in the Cache Valley
Dr. Randy Martin
During the winter months, the air in Utah's Cache Valley can experience some of the highest concentrations of fine particulate matter in the nation. These small particles are the result of the frequent and persistent wintertime inversions in the enclosed valley combined with the direct emission sources and complex photochemical reactions involving addition gas-phase. Dr. Martin has been involved in research into the characterization and behavior of the Valley's particulate problem. The results of this work will benefit the residents of Cache Valley and Utah by providing better insight into fine particle formation with the unique conditions of wintertime in the mountain west and by developing effective and economical remediation scenarios.
Irrigation Engineering
Real-Time Flow Measurement in Cache Valley Irrigation Canals
Mr. Evan Thompson, Dr. Gary Merkley
A SCADA system was recently installed at several flow measurement structures in Cache Valley irrigation canals through a collaborative water management project involving Utah State University (USU) and the Utah Division of Water Rights (UDWR).
Gary Merkley and Evan Thompson of USU worked with the UDWR, the Logan River Commissioner, and several local canal companies to handle the technical and institutional issues for the installation. As a result, improved data collection and data quality are available to a larger number of water users and officials with real-time flow rate information obtainable through the UDWR's web site.
Cutthroat Flume Calibrations
Mr. Alfonso Torres, Dr. Gary Merkley
Hydraulic measurements for a 3-foot Cutthroat flume with four different throat widths were collected and analyzed at the Utah Water Research Laboratory by Alfonso Torres and Gary Merkley of the Biological and Irrigation Engineering Department to develop improved calibration equations for water measurement in canals.
The laboratory data indicate that previously published transition submergence, St, values do not accurately describe the hydraulic behavior of this Cutthroat flume because St is not constant for given flume dimensions – it varies with flow rate.
Various criteria were applied to the laboratory data to define the curvilinear relationship of St with flow rate, thereby providing a more accurate application of the traditional free- and submerged-flow equations, in those cases where their continued use is desired. The results of this study will be applied to improvements in water measurement accuracy in irrigation canals.
Seepage Loss Measurements in Cache Valley Irrigation Canals
Ms. Katerine Napan Molina, Dr. Gary Merkley
Extensive field work to better quantify seepage losses in the Cache Valley Irrigation canals is being performed during the summer of 2008 using newly acquired acoustic-based currently-metering equipment. The USU team is coordinating with several irrigation canal companies, the Logan River Commissioner, and other state and local agencies during the implementation of this project.The project scope also involves the installation of an automated data-collection system for the new broad-crested weir location in the Cache County Fairgrounds and will be outfitted with a data logger. A second site will be set up on the Providence canal. These activities complement previous work on Cache Valley irrigation canals in 2007 and 2006.
Benefits from this project include an improved ability to deal with local stormwater runoff events in Cache Valley irrigation canals, improved quantification of seepage losses in the canals, and improved flow measurement capability and accuracy.
Lay Flat Lateral Hydraulics for Low-Head Drip Irrigation
Mr. Evan Thompson, Dr. Gary Merkley
The objective of this study is to analyze the hydraulics of low-head, lay-flat micro-irrigation tubing. The hydraulic effects of operating the system at very low pressures are currently unknown, so research will be conducted to determine the effect of pressure on cross-sectional area for tubing of different wall thicknesses. This, in turn, leads to the effect of pressure on hydraulic head loss and emission uniformity, which is directly related to the efficiency of water application.
Detailed study of the lay-flat laterals under ideal and actual conditions is required to determine how to reduce the lag time from first emitter to last in delivering water, thereby enhancing water application uniformity. Information on the hydraulic behavior of other emitter types will also help improve application uniformity. Pre-punched holes in the lateral are being used, but have large manufacturing variations, causing a correspondingly large range in discharge. Discharge analysis of various emitter types will yield important information necessary for optimizing application uniformity.
Upon completion of laboratory testing, field testing will be conducted in Ethiopia, in cooperation with International Development Enterprises (IDE), to verify the results and to observe the use of the systems under field conditions. The completion of this work will lead to the development of design aids and manuals for successful implementation of low-cost drip irrigations systems. These low-cost irrigation systems will help low-income farmers around the world improve their livelihoods by enhancing agricultural production.
Optimization of Border Irrigation Water Use Efficiency
Mr. Jorge Escurra, Dr. Gary Merkley
The objective of the this research was to develop a completely robust mathematical model of one-dimensional flow in border-irrigated agricultural fields. The model has the capability of successfully simulating all surface irrigation phases, including advance, ponding, depletion, and recession. The model is able to simulate these different irrigation phases for a reasonable range of inflow rates, and for longitudinal field slopes of up to 1%.
Modeling work has included many new features, such as an algorithmic approach to determining appropriate values of spatial and temporal weighting factors (θ and f), combination of hydrodynamic and volume-balance numerical solutions, variable time steps, and other techniques. The downhill simplex method is applied to determine recommended inflow rate and time of cutoff to maximize water application efficiency and water requirement efficiency in a multi-objective optimization. Field tests were conducted in the summer of 2007 to validate the mathematical model and pave the way for the optimization work, which is currently in progress. The final product of this research will be to provide guidelines for the design and management of border-irrigated fields for both free-draining and blocked-end downstream conditions.
Transitional Flow between Orifice and Non-orifice Regimes at a Rectangular Sluice Gate
Mr. Omar Alminagorta, Dr. Gary Merkley
The hydraulic transition between non-orifice and orifice flow regimes at a rectangular canal sluice gate was analyzed to determine the value of a coefficient (Co) used to define the threshold between the two regimes. The transition coefficient was defined as the ratio of vertical gate opening to upstream water depth. Several dozen data sets were collected in the Utah Water Research Laboratory (UWRL), each including the measurement of upstream and downstream water depth for five different vertical gate openings, and 17 different steady-state discharges from 0.02 to 0.166 m3/s. Various approaches were tested to define the limits of the non-orifice-to-orifice regime transition, but the one presented herein uses the specific-energy equation for open-channel flow. After the transition limits were defined, an estimation of the non-orifice-to-orifice transition coefficient, Co, was made. The experimental results indicate that orifice flow always exists when Co is less than 0.83, and non-orifice flow always exists when Co is greater than 1.00. A procedure was developed to determine the flow regime and the discharge at a rectangular gate in the range 0.83 < Co < 1.00. The benefit from this research is an improvement in the use of sluice gates for accurate flow measurement under a more inclusive range of flow regimes and conditions in irrigation canals.