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FRONT

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Survey of Irrigation Organizations

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INSIDE

What is this survey for?

The Survey of Irrigation Organizations, conducted by USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE), will provide a greater understanding of local irrigation water management and their impact on drought resilience.

The survey includes the following topics:

• Organization type and governance structure

• Allocation of off-farm water supplies

• Management of on-farm groundwater

• Systems for water delivery and measurement

• Drought planning and response

• Water conservation and environmental concerns

• Assets, liabilities, and investments

• Revenue and pricing structures

• Costs of operation and maintenance

Over the last several decades, many aspects of water management institutions have changed, including the number and size of irrigation organizations, the pricing structures used for cost recovery, the reliance on new sources of water quantity data, and an expanded emphasis on groundwater management. Increasing demands on the nation’s limited water resources have heightened the need for information on management decisions and infrastructure systems that can improve agricultural water use and drought response.

What are “irrigation organizations”?

For this survey, an irrigation organization is defined as a group of individuals, a company, a governmental district or agency, or an individual that operates facilities to supply irrigation water to two or more farms or ranches, as well as organizations that influence on-farm groundwater withdrawals.

These organizations may be formal legal organizations, or informal or cooperative arrangements.

The results of this survey will help identify challenges and constraints facing irrigation organizations. Survey findings will inform government, industry, and policy makers on local irrigation supply practices and their impact on drought resilience. The findings should be particularly valuable to irrigation organizations in promoting knowledge transfer on water-supply management strategies at the local level. Government and industry policy is also shaped by these data.

Thank you for your participation!

BACK

This survey will be conducted in early 2020. Survey findings will be available in late 2020. The survey covers 24 states with an estimated sample size of 6,500 organizations.

As USDA prepares to put this survey into the field, interested parties can help by:

• Informing irrigation organizations about the survey and encouraging them to respond.

• Working with USDA to ensure that the list of active organizations is up to date.

• Providing feedback on the public review process for the survey.

For more information, visit us at:
www.nass.usda.gov/go/irrorgs
or call 1-800-727-9540.

The results of this survey will be available in aggregate form only, ensuring that no individual operation or producer can be identified, as required by federal law.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

October 2019