Over this past year, California has experienced one of the worst droughts on record with attention focused on the upcoming irrigation season and what effect it will have on reservoirs and groundwater aquifers. Recently, the areas most affected by the drought have received much needed rain and snow, but from all indications, it will fall short of the large quantities of water needed to sustain the 2014 growing season.
With groundwater levels dropping and reservoirs being depleted, farmers and ranchers are taking action to ensure they will have the water needed for the upcoming irrigation season. For some, it is just a matter of setting the pumps deeper with a possible bowl/impeller change, which can greatly increase the overall pumping costs. With others, we are finding well capacities have dropped off considerably from when they were built—some as much as 70 percent. For these irrigators, well rehabilitation is proving to be the most cost-effective way to manage their watering needs.