The next Training Tuesday webinar offered by the Almond Board of California (ABC) will focus on irrigation maintenance. With limited water supplies, ensuring irrigation systems are functioning at optimal efficiency is critical. The irrigation system maintenance webinar will begin at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 15. The first presenter of the morning will be Kevin Greer with the Tehama County Resource Conservation District.
“He’s going to present on the results of last year’s testing where they went out and did distribution uniformity testing on behalf of ABC,” said Tom Devol, Senior Manager of Field Outreach and Education for ABC. “They conducted 50 tests where they went out and tested systems for how well they distributed water. He’s really going to highlight a common thing he found was leaks in the system and the impacts of leaks.”
The webinar will go over working with mobile irrigation labs and the value of routine testing. Devol said that it is a good idea for growers to have a test done every three years. Participants in the Training Tuesday will also hear from Devol, who will be talking about the overall importance of irrigation maintenance and steps to ensure efficiency. Devol said there are two main areas of focus he has been working with growers on this year.
“Where their riser T’s connect to their tubing on their irrigation system. To check the screen in that riser T, the washer screen and make sure it’s clear and doesn’t have debris in it. That’s a big area we’re finding causes problems with system pressure,” Devol noted. “Then really making sure you’ve got a good process in place for flushing out your irrigation system. Frequency to do that depends on where you are and the quality of water you have. But it’s really important to make sure you’re doing that flushing.”
Listen to Devol’s interview below.
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