THE PROBLEM
In order to meet community needs, especially in areas prone to water scarcity and droughts, effective and efficient management and utilization of water resources are becoming increasingly vital. Climate change forecasts in New Mexico and adjacent arid southwest states predict warmer temperatures and less available water. The socioeconomic impact of these climate change models is vast and varied, with agricultural water use being reduced by 33% and urban water use being reduced by 2%, or roughly a loss of $101 million in New Mexico alone. Additionally, as the environment becomes increasingly warmer, the water loss due to evaporation also increases substantially. In order to adapt to a changing climate, the way water is managed needs to be adjusted.
One major component related to water usage and allocation is evaporation. Evaporation is important because it is directly tied to price, policy, and conservation efforts. These factors have wide-reaching consequences that affect not only those with water-dependent capital assets, such as irrigators, ranchers, and farmers, but also community, government, and resource conservation entities locally as well as all across the United States. With evaporation being one of three critical factors in determining the price of water (seasonal allocation and rainfall being the other two), it is paramount that the current method is reevaluated and improved. Periods of scarcity will be more frequent as the climate becomes hotter and drier.
The current method for measuring evaporation from reservoirs is the Class A evaporation pan, a technology older than the light bulb. This antiquated device remains the standard because it is easy, cheap, and reliable, even though it is also extremely imprecise. The inaccuracy of the Class A pan was acceptable when evaporation measurement standards were first established in the United States, due to water being cheap and abundant at that time. A growing population and changing climate have created a world in which this is no longer the case.
A new, more accurate way to measure open-water evaporation is needed, especially as the demand for water increases and supply decreases, impacting water quantity allocation for ranchers, farmers, and cities. The estimated evaporation volume from reservoirs in New Mexico in 2010 was 262,000 acre-feet based on a technology known to overestimate evaporation by as much as 77% in arid environments. Even the conservative calculation of overestimation of 50% yields a volume of 87,000 acre-feet, or a volume greater than all the public water supply from surface water in New Mexico in 2010: 81,000 acre-feet.
THE SOLUTION
Agua del Sol Consultants, LLC, founded in 2016, will reduce this overestimated evaporation error by deploying our patented technology, the Collison Floating Evaporation Pan (CFEP), into reservoirs where accurate evaporation measurements are needed. Our CFEP solves the problems of inaccurate measurements inherent with the older technology and brings 21st-century solutions to the management of our most precious and limited resource.
SOURCES
Bjornlund, H., and Rossini, P., 2005, Fundamentals Determining Prices and Activities in the Market for Water Allocations, International Journal of Water Resources Development, 21:2, 355-369, DOI.
Follansbee, Robert, 1934, Evaporation from Reservoir Surfaces. In Transactions, Vol. 99, pp. 704-715. American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY.
Hurd, B.H. and Coonrod, J., 2008, Climate change and its implications for New Mexico’s water resources and economic opportunities, NM State University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Cooperative Extension Service, College of Agriculture and Home Economics.
Johnson, H.D., Brown, E.G., and Robie, R.B., 1979, Evaporation from water surfaces in California. State of California Department of Water Resources, Bulletin 73-79.
New Mexico Office of the State Engineer Technical Report 54, 2013, New Mexico Water Use By Categories 2010.
Phillips, K., Rodrigue, E., and Yucel, M., 2013, Water scarcity a potential drain on the Texas economy, Southwest Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Fourth Quarter 2013.
Watkins, A., 2006, The impact of climate change on New Mexico’s water supply and ability to manage water resources Santa Fe, NM: New Mexico Office of the State Engineer.