ASSESSING AGRICULTURAL GROUNDWATER NEEDS FOR THE FUTURE: IDENTIFYING IRRIGATED AREA AND SOURCES

State water plans require an assessment of agricultural water demand with enough specificity that regional water planners can anticipate when, where and how much will be needed to support irrigation. Planning for withdrawals with this level of detail begins with an assessment of current withdrawals. While several efforts have been made to identify irrigated areas, each has fallen short of defining a comprehensive map. Widely conflict- ing estimates and maps have created uncertainty and mis- trust. As part of Georgia Environmental Protection Divi- sion-led efforts to conduct assessments of water use for regional planning groups, we sought to pull together re- sults from past efforts into a common irrigation area base- line. Additionally, using 2007 aerial imagery, we have identified additional irrigation systems that were not in- cluded on either record set. Each irrigated area was con- nected with a water source allowing determination propor- tion of withdrawals from surface and groundwater sup- plies by watershed and county. The comprehensive map- ping shows Georgia farmers currently irrigate about 1,400,000 acres of land, mostly in the Coastal Plains.