The Cross Section, Volume 12, Number 3, August 1965 Page: 3
4 pages : illustrations, mapsView a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
August 1965 THE CROSS SECTiON Page 3
IRRIGRTIOflPROCESSUSIflGSEWA6E ffLUflT
BY J. FRANK GRAYFrank Gray is managing partner of
farms handling sewage effluent of
Lubbock, Texas. He is a member of
the State Soil Conservation Board.
Design and management of an ir-
rigation system for municipal sewage
effluent or re-claimed water is basic-
ally about the same as any other good,
efficient irrigation system using water
from other sources.
Perhaps we should first discuss a
good irrigation system and then add
any additional features necessary for
handling sewage effluent.
First, there must be an adequate
supply of water that is free enough
of minerals to be suitable for irriga-
tion. If the municipal domestic water
supply would be suitable for irriga-
tion, then its sewage effluent would
also be suitable unless industrial or
chemical wastes are allowed to be
dumped into sewage lines. But a good
irrigation system must have an ade-
quate supply of water whether it
comes from underground wells, ca-
nals, lakes, running streams, or muni-
cipal sewage treatment plant.
Second, a good irrigation system
requires a great deal of engineering
and planning in order to obtain maxi-
mum efficiency out of pumps and
power units. Also, much planning and
good engineering are required in pre-
paration of the land to be irrigated.
Good irrigation is best accomplish-
ed by irrigating on the level with the
length of runs depending upon the
permeability of the soil. The best
length, of runs probably should be
from 600 to 1,000 feet, again depend-
ing upon the permeability of the soil.
When the terrain is not naturally
level, different methods of mechanic-
ally leveling may be used. One meth-
od is field leveling where the entire
field is leveled. Another is bench lev-
eling where small terraces, or borders,
are constructed perferably parallel
and even in width and leveled from
side to side and from end to end. Gen-
erally these benches are from 16 to 24
40-inch rows in width. Still anotherterraces and borders and keep the
terrain of the field level.
One needs to carry out a cropping
system that will maintain a good or-
ganic matter content in the soil. This
may be done by rotation programs,
by growing organic crops, by using
high residue crops properly, and by
applying barnyard manure and cotton
burrs. Many other methods not men-
tioned may be used profitably.
The management also needs to use
varieties best adapted to the particu-
lar operation, to fertilize according
to needs, to control insects, to -use
cultural practices best suited, and to
irrigate at the right time with proper
amounts of water. The use of these
practices will help obtain the maxi-
mum net return per acre-inch of water
applied.
These general items discussed so
far are necessary for successful irri-
gation farming, but they are most im-
portant where sewage effluent is to
be used, and particularly where the
operator has to take the entire flow
at all times as is done at Lubbock.
In its beginning the operation at
Lubbock, even though it is considered
highly successful, was not a new nor
unique idea.
Uses of sewage effluent for rriga-
tion dates back into the 18th Century
according to some authorities on sew-
age and sewage disposals. According
to some of these authorities, the prac-
tice of irrigation with sewage has
been discontinued in some instances;
hawever, such irrigation is still being
used in some places, especially on
small-scale operations.
Level Irrigation
The practices of using sewage efflu-
ent for irrigation is best adapted to
arid and semi-arid climates and to
soils adapted to irrigation. The soils
most desirable are those of sandy clay
loams, highly permeable with a level
terrain. In this practice level irriga-
tion is extremely important.
Soil and climate are of prime im-Some of these have been listed.
1. A regular supply of water, es-
pecially if a person is using all the
water from a municipality.
2. Some fertility is added to the
soil, depending on the type of waste
water and the degree of treatment
given the raw sewage. Most of the
benefit is from the addition of nitro-
gen. However, some phosphorus is
added, especially with the increasing
use of new detergents.
3. With towns located on small
streams, we are not polluting the
water and killing fish and marine
life when the sewage effluent is used
for irrigation. At the same time the
the . amount of usable domestic
water which might be reclaimed from
such sewage disposal into small
streams would be insignificant with-
out expensive treatment.
Reclaiming Water
The problem of reclaiming the
water from sewage effluent for do-
mestic use .is not so big where towns
and cities are located on large streams
or bodies of water, but it is a real
problem where such cities and towns
are not located on large bodies of
water where adequate dilution of the
discharged effluent can be accom-
plished.
There are also disadvantages in the
use of reclaimed water for irrigation
purposes.
1. With the continuous supply, the
consumer must use the water at all
times during all kinds of weather,
usually seven days of every week.
2. Odors of the effluent are some-
times objectionable.
3. It is more difficult to secure help
to handle effluent because of the
odors and because of their fear of
disease.
4.Small seedling plants are killed
by the effluent when submerged for
more than six to eight hours.
Holding tanks or reservoirs large
enough to hold the flow for severalbock, it is a recreation center and the
sewage effluent is not permitted to
enter this waterway.
Of the approximate 2,000 acres irri-
gated with sewage effluent, the City
of Lubbock owns part, we own part,
and some acreage is leased from ad-
joining farms.
Our climate is semi-arid with an an-
nual rainfall of only 18 or 20 inches,
but we are able to grow a large num-
ber of crops under irrigation. These
crops consist mainly of the following:
Small grains, such as wheat (largest
acreage), barley, oats, and rye.
Row crops of cotton, many variteies
of grain sorghums for grain or seed
production, and also dry and silage
feeds.
Hay and pasture crops for livestock,
including alfalfa, sudan or millet for
temporary grazing, and improved or
irrigated grasses, such as rye, brome,
orchard, fescues, switch, love panic,
bermudas, and many others.
In 1937 we were using approximate-
ly 1 to 1 1/2 million gallons daily of
effluent on approximately 200 acres:
our crops were only alfalfa and small
grains. In 1938 additional land was
put under irrigation, totaling approxi-
mately 450 acres. We began with some
row crops, cotton and grain sorghums,
using this cropping system until about
1943. Then, as the effluent increased
to approximately 3 million gallons
daily, we dropped cotton from our
row crops. With only about 450 acres
under cultivation with irrigation and
the flow increasing from approximat-
ely 2 million gallons daily in 1941 to
approximately 4 million gallons daily
in 1947, our crops were feed, pasture
and livestock. This type of farming
will utilize more water than will row
crop farming.
More Acreage
In the fall of 1947 we bought 640
acres of land of which about 585 were
in cultivation and by the 1949 crop
year we were able to go back tomethod is using parallel terraces and
leveling between them. The main ob-
jective of all methods is to water on
the level in order to get an even dis-
tribution and penetration and to pre-
vent erosion.
The best water conveying system, of
course, is the underground pipe sys-
tem which prevents erosion, seepage,
and evaporation, and permits culti-
vation over the lines. Of course tem-
porary or portable lines may also be
used. The next best conveyor system
is the lined ditches which prevents
erosion and seepage, but does not pre-
vent evaporation and does not allow
cultivation across the ditches. A third
system uses plain, open ditches. If
they are used, by all means they
should be as level as possible in order
to slow down erosion, but seepage and
evaporation will still be taking place.
One needs to manage his operation
in such a way that he can maintain
his conveyor system properly at all
times. He should always maintain hisSouth Plains Underground Water Dis-
trict No. 4.
Petitions are now being distributed
for signatures within the area. When
the petitions are completed, they will
be presented to the Texas Water Com-
mission for a hearing on the proposed
district.portance in considering an operation
of this kind, especially if the effluent
has to be used every day. Other fac-
tors to be considered are the amount
of effluent and the number of acres
on which it must be used. If large
amounts of effluent are available, then
crops that are high users of water
will have to be planted; for example,
forage, such as feed crops and pas-
tures. When plenty of land is avail-
able, the operation may be diversi-
fied with any and all crops adapted to
the locality. Diversified farming is a
good practice under any system of
irrigation. But if sewage is to be used
daily, then diversified farming is es-
sential in that the farmer will have
a place to go with the effluent at all
seasons of the year.
With good soil management prac-
tices, which include level farming, in-
crease of organic matter or humus in
the soil by the use of high residue
crops, conserving crop residues, rotat-
ing crops, and using other scinetific
practices, irrigation with sewage ef-
fluent can be highly successful.
Because of the rapid growth of our
population and the multiplying in-
crease of our water problems, more
consideration a n d encouragement
should be given to the use of our
waste or reclaimed water.
There are many advantages in the
use of sewage effluent for irrigation.days and probably several weeks will
help greatly in overcoming the first
two if these disadvantages.
For a successful sewage effluent
irrigation project there must be a
cooperative and understanding atti-
tude between the municipal govern-
ment and the operator of the project.
The operator has to be protected with
a long-term contract if he is to be out
the large investments necessary to han-
dle properly the effluent. At the same
time the municipal government wants
assurance it is being handled properly.
Another important item in develop-
ing a sewage effluent operation is a
geological survey. This should be
made to determine whether or not
the water table might be raised to a
danger point it a large amount of ef-
fluent is to be used.
Experiences At Lubbock
Briefly the experiences at Lubbock
in handling the effluent since 1937
are outlined in the paragraphs to
follow:
Sewage irrigation was started at
Lubbock in the early 30's. The late
Dr. Fred Standefer started using the
effluent soon after the practice was
adopted by the city. I began with Dr.
Standefer in 1937 as part-time man-
ager of the farm and in 1939 a part-
nership was formed which still exists
with Mrs. Standefer.
The sewage treatment plant is lo-
cated on Double Mountain Fork of the
Brazos River. The farm is located on
both sides of the river or canyon
breaks. Buffalo Springs or Lakes is
located down the canyon approximate-
ly five miles. Since this is the only
body of water of any size near Lub-some cotton farming. We added more
to our acreage in 1952 and in 1953.
With the rapid growth of Lubbock
the sewage flow has increased steadily
and the flow for 1963 will average ap-
proximately 12 to 12 1/2 million gal-
lons daily. With 2,000 plus acres now
under irrigation we are able to di-
versify our crops and grow any that
are adapted to the area.
Our storage tanks will hold approxi-
mately 60 to 70 hours sewage flow
and therefore we have to keep some
place ready for water. This requires
diversified farming which is a good
practice on any farm. However, our
storage is very inadequate. It would
be much better to have storage space
for at least 30 days if possible. We are
using several playa lakes for storage
during bad weather. Then, as needed,
we pump this water back into our
pipe system and onto our land.
The lease arrangement with the city
is for a 20-year period consisting of
an annual cash lease per acre of land
owned by the city, and we are requir-
ed to take the effluent from the hold-
ing tanks at all times. The prepara-
tion of land, construction of ditches,
pipe lines, and the like are all done
by us at no cost to the city. One must
emphasize the importance of a long-
term contract and the importance of
cooperation between city government
and farm operator.
We have cooperated with the Soil
Conservation District and Soil Con-
servation Service since 1944 and have
had their help in bench leveling more
than 1,300 acres of land and in the
construction of 16 to 17 miles of un-
(Continued On Page 4)August 1965
T HE CR O SS S EC T IO N
Page 3
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
High Plains Underground Water Conservation District No. 1 (Tex.). The Cross Section, Volume 12, Number 3, August 1965, periodical, August 1965; Lubbock, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1532885/m1/3/: accessed June 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.