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Irrigation-water quality in the Sulphur Creek basin, Yakima and Benton counties, Washington, April 1976 through March 1977

Open-File Report 81-1008
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr811008

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Abstract

A water-quality-sampling network was designed for the Sulphur Creek basin to observe the effects of farming practices on irrigation. Sediment and nutrient yield, discharge, and water temperature data were collected during the 1976 irrigation season and the following fall and winter. The suspended-sediment yield of the basin during this period was 2.0 tons per acre of irrigated cropland. Only about 3% of the net outflow of sediment occurred during the nonirrigation season. The yield computed by subbasin ranged from 0.7 to 7 tons per acre, depending mainly on land slope, but a high percentage of orchard land in the subbasins was probably also significant in reducing loads. Nutrient outflows during the study period were 1,180,000 pounds of nitrogen and 120,000 pounds of phosphorous. Nitrate-plus-nitrite represent 70% of the nitrogen outflow in the irrigation season and 84% in the nonirrigation season. The monitoring network was discontinued at the end of the study period, due largely to insufficient farmer participation. Network sensitivity in the control subbasins was inadequate to detect the effects of a planned demonstration program of best management practices. (USGS)

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Irrigation-water quality in the Sulphur Creek basin, Yakima and Benton counties, Washington, April 1976 through March 1977
Series title Open-File Report
Series number 81-1008
DOI 10.3133/ofr811008
Year Published 1982
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description Report: vii, 68 p.; 1 Plate: 21.07 × 25.65 inches
Country United States
State Washington
County Benton County, Yakima County
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