Water studies: RFP

The California Department of Water Resources has prepared two Requests for Proposals (RFP's) to study the ‘Optimization of Water Use and Crop Production’ and the ‘Benefits of Agricultural Water Conservation.’ The Optimization of Water Use and Crop Production project is to focus on the practice of deficit irrigation, which involves subjecting the crop to water stress at noncritical growth stages in order to reduce the cost of water per unit of crop produced. The Benefits of Agricultural Water Conservation project is to focus on the incidental (nonwater) benefits, such as reduction in the cost of energy for pumping and labor, reduction of water pollution, and reduction in disease vectors (mosquitos). These projects are part of the Department's Agricultural Water Conservation Research Program.