Estimated demand for agricultural water for irrigation use in New Jersey, 1990

As part of an effort to determine if an adequate supply of agricultural water for irrigation use will be available to farmers, the U.S. Geological Survey prepared preliminary estimates of demand for agricultural water for irrigation use for the year 1990 on the basis of six possible scenarios. These scenarios incorporate normal and drought climatic conditions and three alternative estimates of the total acreage of farmland that may be irrigated in 1990. Preliminary estimates of water demand based on soil-moisture deficits were made using methods for calculating climatic water budgets. These estimates ranged from 3.0 billion gal/growing season (May through September), under normal climatic conditions and a 2% annual decline in irrigated acreage since 1984, to 28. 9 billion gal/growing season, under drought conditions and a 2% annual increase in irrigated acreage since 1984. Preliminary estimates of water demand made for the 1986 growing season reasonably approximate reported water use for that period. (USGS)