A look into a ground breaking project and the components behind ground water data collection and the digitizing of ground water information
“They say that one shouldn't mix water and electricity; however, when dealing with ground water and attempting to collect diverse types of data, the process of collecting the data requires a certain level of creativity.”
The Twin Platte Natural Resources District (TPNRD) began this Water Data Program in 2019 to provide irrigators with information about their ground water use as well as improve models for the TPNRD. What makes this program so complex are all of the pieces that must fit together in a very precise manner. Doing so will then update ground water models and not only simplify, but make ground water data collection more available for TPNRD's growers.
Where it Started
The Water Data Program began with the Integrated Management Plan (IMP). Very, very simply put, the IMP is a plan that was created to "return water back to the Platte River." It is a lot more complex than that, as TPNRD only manages ground water. Because ground water and surface water are interconnected, it takes collaboration between stakeholders and a state agency to create a plan such as the IMP. Other Natural Resources Districts have used regulations in the past for reducing ground water use; however, the TPNRD does not want to regulate their growers. Not only is it costly, but TPNRD believes their growers are already doing a good job of regulating their ground water use. TPNRD suspects that most of the farming technique updates have not been reflected in the models.
The question is, how does TPNRD translate what is happening on grower’s fields today, into new and updated models?
All in the Models
The TPNRD still needs to figure out how to reduce the water use in the District or prove that current data supports the fact that models are over estimating irrigation. Working with Dr. Jim Schneider of Olsson, a civil engineering firm in Lincoln which has a leading-edge water consulting division, TPNRD has available data models that have been created to calculate the amount of water used over the past few decades. Dr. Schneider, ground water scientist and former acting director of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, is auditing the current modeling to determine its validity and accuracy and if more current data would paint a more accurate picture.
As an example, in the model, John Doe's field in calendar year 2000 was a soybean crop. TPNRD has no way to track the crops on every field until now, and so the model would assume that John had a corn crop and his farming practices are still the same as 1997. The model is assuming this and doesn’t have any current real time data to use. However, technology in the past two decades has changed dramatically. Most likely, the way John was farming 20 years ago is not the way he is farming today, nor have the models been updated or shown these more efficient and sustainable irrigation and tillage practices.
What is the Next Step?
This all started as a conversation between stakeholders during the IMP planning process on finding a better way to update these models. It was during this process that a stakeholder who has worked with Billy Tiller, Co-Founder of Grower Information Services Cooperative (GiSC), suggested the TPNRD look into working with this farmer owned data cooperative. GiSC is based out of Lubbock, Texas, and works with data collection and storage. GiSC is the part of this project that is helping tie all the components together.
Digitizing Ground Water Use
Flow rates, measuring time using electrical providers, data collection and models, using wireless connection to capture time for non-electric wells, and GiSC, are phrases not often used in the same sentence. TPNRD has been working with these components together over the past year, troubleshooting the outcomes. The simplified formula for calculating ground water use consists of [ flow rate x time = the amount of water pumped]. It will take the connecting of all components listed below to solve this formula.
Wireless Communication
TPNRD covers a wide variety of geographical landscapes that have presented challenges in figuring out how to make this program available for everyone who irrigates in the District. With vast Sandhills, river valleys, and canyons in the District, TPNRD has worked with Paige Wireless to utilize a type of connection called LoRAWAN. LoRAWAN is short for long-range, wide area network. LoRaWAN is designed to send very small data packets utilizing battery powered devices as often as every 30 minutes to 1 hour, as it is for the TPNRD. LoRAWAN is able to withstand complex geographical landscapes such as the Sandhills, where there may not be a town nearby for hours. This connection will be used as a communication tool to speak to GiSC in two ways. The first use is measuring the time irrigation is running on non-electric wells. The second use is communicating the rate at which water is being pumped for the validation process, then sent to GiSC.
Flow Rates
Measuring the flow rates of each well will consist of producers contacting their well driller to have the driller do a flow rate test. What this one flow rate test will provide is the rate at which the ground water is flowing from the well and out of the pivot. Since this rate does not change very often, this flow rate test will only need to be done every few years but will provide validity to the utilized pumping rate.
Data Collection (GiSC)
The needed data from the well drillers, power companies, and Paige Wireless, is then collected and housed with GiSC and completely controlled by the growers. This is a grower centric solution, which recognizes the need for their participation to create what will be the best solution for a big data collection effort around irrigation. To measure the time on an electrical well, electrical companies already utilize smart electric meters to record the amount of electricity that is being used to pump ground water. There is an added value to utilizing the electrical smart meter data, and that is a look at the past. GiSC has requested past recorded data from the electric power providers and is working with that data to create a 2018 and 2019 data set. This will give a larger size of pumping data over more years. Since this data is already available and utilized, TPNRD has partnered with several power companies in order to receive the time of pumping as it is happening, or in real time. This information is then stored in a grower database along with all other components. It is as though each of these components are a food ingredient in a recipe and GiSC is the pantry where they stay until it is time to be used.
Data Models (Olsson)
Dr. Schneider and others from Olsson go to GiSC, the "pantry" of data and pull out different components, or "ingredients" in different combinations to produce a variety of models or "recipes.” The final outcomes are then provided to the State at the end of four years.
Validation of Data
In order to validate the whole data gathering process and the calculation of ground water pumped, the TPNRD has installed 26 flow meters which are evenly distributed around the District. Because flow meters have been the most commonly used ground water measurement tool, TPNRD will be utilizing these to verify the process. After the first growing season is complete, the flow meter final readings should be in close approximation to the calculations provided to TPNRD and the growers by GiSC.
Data Storage and Management
Data storage and management is the last component that has been approved by the TPNRD Board of Directors. The TPNRD has agreed to utilize GeoOptix to store and organize all of the new data that will be generated with this program. They have cutting edge solutions for capturing data from IoT devices in remote locations.
The Final Test
This 2020 growing season is the first season of utilizing all of the components as a whole and gathering data. The data began to collect when the growers started irrigating. The data and the models that will be sent to the State will be a list of numbers and anonymous data. The data will not provide irrigators names or private pumping data, but will provide a better aggregate view of TPNRD than they have ever had in the past. This will not happen until 2023, as the fourth year of this project is the "test" to see if this new TPNRD Water Data Program is working the way it is believed it can. Within one year, TPNRD has received just under 50% volunteer participation. The goal is 100% grower participation. TPNRD believes in using existing technology and partnerships to simplify the use of ground water to benefit those in the farming industry.
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