Low-energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation: a forty-year review

Authors: BORDOVSKY, JAMES - Texas A&M Agrilife

Submitted to: Transactions of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2018
Publication Date: 7/1/2019
Citation: Bordovsky, J.P. 2019. Low-energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation: A forty-year review. Transactions of the ASABE. https://doi.org/10.13031/aim.201801598.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.13031/aim.201801598

Interpretive Summary: The sustainability of irrigation on the Texas High Plains was threatened by two circumstances in the 1970’s: 1) declining water availability from the Ogallala Aquifer; and 2) increasing cost to pump groundwater due to rapid increases in fuel costs. To address these circumstances, the low-energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation concept was developed. The LEPA method applies water to the soil surface at low pressure using a tower-truss irrigation system that continually moves through the field. A researcher from Texas A&M AgriLife Research in the ARS-led Ogallala Aquifer Program reviewed the published information pertaining to LEPA history, evaluation, and usage. The following significant advances were summarized: 1) placing water in every other furrow was as effective as watering every furrow; 2) at 50% of the estimated full irrigation quantity, LEPA resulted in a 16% yield increase over sprinkler methods; 3) at full irrigation, crop yields of under non-LEPA sprinklers were only slightly less than those of LEPA. As irrigation water becomes more limited, use and proper management of optimum irrigation methods will be critical, and the summary in this review will facilitate further conversion of other types of sprinkler systems to LEPA.

Technical Abstract: The low-energy precision application (LEPA) irrigation concept was developed 40 years ago (ca. 1978) to address the depletion of irrigation water from the Ogallala Aquifer and the sharp increase in pumping costs caused by the 1970s fuel crisis occurring at that time in the Texas High Plains. The LEPA method applies water to the soil surface at low pressure using a tower-truss irrigation system that continually moves through the field. This method brought changes in irrigation equipment and management that resulted in improvements in water productivity, particularly in semi-arid locations with diminishing water supplies. A review of published information pertaining to LEPA history, evaluation, and usage was performed. On landscapes of less than 1% slope, negative crop yield effects caused by irrigation runoff and start-stop system alignment were overcome with appropriately spaced basins, or furrow checks, and multiple irrigations over the course of the growing season. No consistent yield advantage at any level of irrigation was documented by placing water in every furrow (1 m spacing) compared to alternate furrows (2 m spacing). In irrigation treatments having 50% of the estimated full irrigation quantity, LEPA resulted in a 16% yield increase over sprinkler methods, although subsurface drip irrigation (SDI) resulted in a 14% yield increase over LEPA. At irrigation levels >50% of full irrigation, crop yields of sprinkler treatments were only slightly less than those of LEPA, and SDI yields were 7% greater than LEPA. The LEPA irrigation method was the catalyst for innovations in chemigation, no-till planting, and site-specific irrigation. As irrigation water becomes more limited, use and proper management of optimum irrigation methods will be critical.