Through a partnership with IRZ Consulting, UEC supported a Scientific Irrigation Scheduling program in summer 2022 that assisted 17 irrigators in reducing water usage by 8,761 acre-feet and produced 7,810,880 in kilowatt-hours savings.
That equals nearly 3 billion gallons of water and the same energy needed to supply 565 all-electric homes for one year. The program treated about one-quarter of the approximately 160,000 acres of irrigated lands in our service territory. The numbers are similar to the previous year, when the program assisted 16 irrigators in reducing water usage by 8,753 acre-feet and produced 8,123,277 in kilowatt-hours savings.
Scientific Irrigation Scheduling is a method of irrigating crops to precisely meet crop water needs. Involved are the precise monitoring of soil moisture levels, the accurate measurement of water application, and computer modeling of crop water use (evapotranspiration).
Please contact our Energy Efficiency department at (541) 567-6414 or email energyefficiency@umatillaelectric.com to learn more about the program.