Recently, Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA), a nonprofit that helps rural communities manage scarce water resources, announced a $120,000 grant from Google supporting its work to update inefficient water irrigation systems that serve more than 35,000 farmers and ranchers across the American West. With the funding, FCA will further develop and implement its data management platform allowing the organization and rural communities to better track water usage, savings and efficiencies in real time.
Founded in 2005, FCA works with irrigation districts across Oregon and in Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Washington. Together with these districts, FCA replaces severely outdated irrigation infrastructure, which often loses more than half of the water conveyed through aging canals and dams. In addition to irrigation modernization, FCA has helped many irrigation districts also build small hydropower projects within the modernized systems, which not only create local renewable energy but also return water back to rural communities and ecosystems coping with severe impacts of a changing climate.
Right now more than 20 percent of land in western states is experiencing drought, which studies show is the driest period the region has seen in thousands of years. To help mitigate this crisis, FCA anticipates activating more than $140 million in federal funding over the next three years into modernized systems that will save communities water, energy and money. To do this efficiently and at scale, FCA needs a way to gather and store data that quantifies the project’s impact, such as water flow and availability.
Google’s grant is supporting a prototyped system currently used in Southern Oregon, in the drought-impacted Rogue River Basin. Once fine-tuned, this prototype will be applied to existing and future projects, informing design and implementation and ensuring the projects’ continued viability.
“This data system allows us and our irrigation partners to be incredibly flexible based on real-time water availability,” said Alan Horton, Farmers Conservation Alliance Chief Financial Officer. “We’ll also be able to show communities and leaders across the country just how much water we’re saving and how important irrigation modernization can be in the face of climate change for both people and wildlife.”
FCA’s Irrigation Modernization Program (IMP) is its largest initiative, impacting more than 35,000 western farmers and ranchers operating on nearly 1 million acres. Its team includes engineers, project developers, data analysts, irrigation advisors, economists and others. As a nonprofit organization, the focus of FCA’s IMP is to design and implement optimal irrigation systems that utilize the best available technologies to provide reliable water, reduce operations and maintenance costs and increase local energy generation.
“Protecting natural resources has never been more important, especially for rural communities in Oregon and across the west,” said Ian Goodhew, Google’s Regional Head of Government and External Relations. “We also know how critical efficient data management can be and are proud to work with the FCA on creating these solutions.”
Google has called Oregon home since 2006 and has more than 200 employees in the state. In November, Google announced continued growth at its data centers in The Dalles, Oregon while making progress toward its ambitious water stewardship and carbon-free energy goals. Earlier this year, Google.org contributed $100,000 to the Wasco County Soil and Water Conservation District, as the district and its partners launched a pilot test to regulate temperature and flow in Fifteenmile Creek, a critical resource for both farmers and wildlife. The grant and the work with FCA are part of more than $15 million Google has contributed in Oregon to support conservation, education, economic growth and other initiatives.
