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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Jonesboro, Arkansas » Delta Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #394263
Research Project: Optimizing the Management of Irrigated Cropping Systems in the Lower Mississippi River Basin

Location: Delta Water Management Research

Title: Surface water irrigation reservoirs improve groundwater recovery in a heavily stressed aquifer

Author
item Blackstock, Joshua
item ODIPO, OBEMBE - Arkansas State University
item SHEW, AARON - Arkansas State University
item Reba, Michele
item Massey, Joseph
item Owens, Phillip
item Delhom, Christopher

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/24/2025
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Agriculture is important to Arkansas’s economy and the unsustainable irrigation of crops in the Arkansas Delta may influence the state economically unless demand for groundwater irrigation is substantially reduced. To reduce groundwater depletion, farmers were encouraged to adopt the use of on-farm surface water reservoirs and other conservation practices. Therefore, we examined how the use of on-farm surface water reservoirs may affect groundwater depletion. We found that an increase in the reservoir surface water area by 100-ha would reduce the average depth-to-water by 0.4 m. This research will be beneficial to the policymakers, and the farmers as an increased adoption and use of conservative practices might reduce the depletion of the aquifer.

Technical Abstract: The continuous use and expansion of irrigated cropland area in the Delta of Arkansas has depleted portions of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer. Dependence on the aquifer for irrigation water has resulted in the formation of regional cones of depression, leading to the creation of critical groundwater areas in the state. It is, however, unclear if the use of surface water for irrigation could reduce groundwater depletion. Therefore, we leverage satellite imagery to quantify the total surface water area on cropland potentially used for irrigation and estimate the relationship between surface water area and groundwater depth-to-water measurements in the Grand Prairie critical groundwater area. We implement two-way fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity and show that watersheds with a 100-ha increase in the surface water area on cropland exhibit an approximate 0.4 m, or 3.3% decrease in mean depth-to-water measurements for a given growing season.