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Ground and Surface Water Conservation (GSWC)

Updated 2/7/08

Background

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (the 2002 Farm Bill) authorizes the Ground and Surface Water Conservation (GSWC) provision of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This program addresses water quality resource concerns related to inefficient water use on irrigated land. This helps address the national EQIP priority related to reduction of non-point source pollution.

The purpose of GSWC EQIP is to promote water conservation by providing cost-share and incentive payments to producers to carry out eligible water conservation activities with respect to the agricultural operations of producers to:

Improve irrigation systems
Enhance irrigation efficiencies
Convert to:
a. the production of less water-intensive agricultural commodities or b. dryland farming
Improve the storage of water through measures such as water banking and groundwater recharge
Mitigate the effects of drought, or
Institute other measures that improve groundwater and surface water conservation, as determined by the Secretary, in the agricultural operations of producers.

A participant may receive assistance to implement an EQIP plan of operations for water conservation with GSWC funds only if the assistance will facilitate a net savings in ground or surface water resources in the agricultural operation on existing irrigated land of the producer. A participant will be eligible for cost-share or incentive payments for irrigation related structural and land management practices only on land that has been irrigated for two of the last five years prior to application for assistance.

The Iowa FY2008 program details are:

Iowa 2008 GSWC EQIP Purposes in Priority Order

Enhance the water quality resource concerns related to irrigation efficiencies of existing irrigation systems statewide.
Convert irrigated cropland statewide to non-irrigated cropland.
Groundwater recharge in Common Resource Areas (CRA) 102C.1, 107A.1, and 107B.2. A map of Iowa CRAs.

Iowa Scenario

Most of Iowa’s irrigated land involves center pivot systems near the Missouri River in CRA 107B.1. Irrigation is also used in the Muscatine Island area. These systems are used only as needed as opposed to systems in other states that operate continuously. Many newer Iowa irrigation systems now use low pressure center pivot systems with drop nozzles that reduce evaporation losses and result in more water reaching the ground.

The NRCS practice standard Irrigation System, Sprinkler (442) can be used to upgrade the efficiency of existing irrigation systems and meet GSWC EQIP objective 2. Producers who wish to convert irrigated cropland to non-irrigated cropland can meet GSWC objective 3. This conversion will involve the use of practice standard Conservation Crop Rotation (328).

Moisture stress during the crop growing season has historically impaired row crop yields in parts of western Iowa more frequently than the balance of the state due to lower rainfall amounts and greater evaporation. Some of the loess soils have less water holding capacity due to a relatively high proportion of silt particles. Conservation practices that increase water infiltration can increase plant available water in the root zone to alleviate or reduce moisture stress to reduce crop yield losses. The most effective conservation practices include level Terraces (600) that use the infiltration of the soil as an outlet instead of Underground Outlets, Residue Management-No Till (329A), and Contour Buffer Strips (332).

These practices all increase water infiltration into the soil. These practices also provide for increased soil carbon and organic matter. The Soil Tillage Intensity Rating (STIR) can be used to determine the effectiveness of cropping systems to conserve soil moisture and reduce soil carbon losses. Residue Management-No Till also allows crop residue to serve as mulch to reduce soil water evaporation. The infiltration effectiveness of No Till increases over a period of years. Therefore, the use of these three practices meets objectives (4) and (5) of GSWC EQIP.

Iowa Purpose 1

Convert existing center pivot irrigators from high pressure systems to low pressure systems with drop tubes. (50% cost share.) Convert other current irrigation systems to more efficient systems.

Irrigation System, Sprinkler (442) can be used to convert irrigation systems to be more efficient. Cost-share 50%.

Iowa Purpose 2

Conservation Crop Rotation (328) conversion from irrigated cropland to non-irrigated cropland. $55.00 incentive payment /AC on a maximum of 160 acres for three years.

Iowa Purpose 3

Include practices in GSWC EQIP in Common Resource Area (CRA) 107B.2, 107A.1, and 102C.1 to maximize water conservation effects and the resulting drought mitigation effects on cropland. The vast majority of the land in these CRAs is cropland that is used for corn and soybean production.

Terrace (600). Terraces are limited to level terraces without tile outlets. Cost-share 50%.

Residue and Tillage Management-No Till (329) in conjunction with new or existing level terraces; or in conjunction with the cropped strips in Contour Buffer Strips (332) systems. Incentive payments of $8 for a 3-year maximum (years must run consecutive).

Contour Buffer Strips (332) where the grass/legume buffer will be used for hayland and Residue Management No Till is used on cropland. Cost-share 50% of seed, fertilizer, and lime.

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