| dc.description.abstract | Irrigation districts in the Texas Lower Rio Grande Valley use an antiquated water-delivery conveyance
system; which loses substantial water from seepage, evaporation, etc. Pressures are increasing for
districts to improve their operational efficiencies. Rehabilitation of the system has been estimated to
save approximately 211,000 ac-ft of water annually; which can benefit agricultural, municipal, and
industrial users in the region. Combining these estimated savings with prior economic and financial
analyses of 17 proposed rehabilitative project components result in an extrapolated estimated required
initial capital investment of $157.8 million in rehabilitative measures to attain the 211,000 ac-ft of annual
savings. A caveat to the exactness of this dollar estimate is warranted, however, because this single-point
estimate is built upon other estimates (e.g., water savings, initial construction costs, etc.) by irrigation
district management, consulting engineers, and university scientists. Future application of on-going
economic work, combined with an ‘in-process’ revised estimate of potential water savings (i.e., from the
current 211,000 ac-ft), could provide an improved investment estimate in the future. | en |
