For buried drip lines, overhead sprinklers, and flood irrigation, which method delivers water to crop roots with the least evaporation and runoff?

A citrus orchard faces a spring frost. Growers run overhead sprinklers all night so ice keeps forming on the leaves, releasing latent heat that keeps the tissue near freezing. Why sprinklers instead of drip irrigation for this job?

A farmer must choose between overhead sprinklers and flood irrigation for a field. Which generally wastes less water through deep percolation and field runoff when properly managed?

A grower is comparing systems to irrigate a large, low-value field crop such as wheat. Which factor most often rules out drip irrigation for large-acreage field crops like this?

A homeowner waters a lawn with sprinklers. At what time of day will the least water be lost to evaporation?

A vineyard wants to avoid wetting grape leaves while using little water. Of drip irrigation, overhead sprinklers, flood irrigation, and furrow irrigation, which fits this goal?

A farm is comparing the upfront cost of building different irrigation systems for the same field. Which system generally requires the greatest upfront capital investment?

A greenhouse grows tomatoes in soil beds with drip emitters at each bed. The grower adds dissolved fertilizer to the drip water. What is this practice called?

A field is flood irrigated for years in a hot, dry climate with poor drainage. What long-term soil problem is most likely?

A low-lying field is repeatedly flood irrigated, and water cannot drain away fast enough. Which condition is most likely to harm crop roots?

Sprinklers operate on a very windy day, and much of the spray lands beyond the crop field. What irrigation problem is occurring?

A farmer releases flood-irrigation water down a steep, bare field. Water flows quickly off the field carrying sediment. What impact is most likely?

A drip system draws unfiltered pond water, and after a few weeks many of its small outlets stop releasing water. What problem most likely caused the failure?

A center-pivot system pumps groundwater faster than recharge for many seasons. The water table forms a lowered area around the well. What is this feature called?

A home in a dry region spends most outdoor water on turfgrass. Which landscape change directly reduces irrigation demand?

A household's water meter rises even when all faucets and appliances are off. Which conservation action should be taken first?

A school has automatic sprinklers that run during rainstorms. Which device would prevent this unnecessary irrigation?

A commercial building wants to reuse treated water from sinks and showers for its landscaping. What is the appropriate nonpotable source called?

A yard has clay soil on a slope, and a long sprinkler cycle causes runoff. Which scheduling practice conserves water?

A community garden loses soil moisture rapidly between watering days. Which practice best reduces evaporation from the soil surface?

Use the chart. Which listed change could eliminate the largest daily household water use?

Use the chart. Application efficiency is the share of applied water used by the crop. Which field has the highest application efficiency?

Use the chart. If every sector reduced withdrawals by the same percentage, which sector would make the largest absolute reduction?

Use the water-meter graph. How many liters of water were used from Wednesday to Thursday?

Use the bar graph. Equal-size crop plots received different irrigation methods. Which method used the least water?