Irrigation Leader Nebraska Edition September 2022 by Water Strategies

september 2022VOLUME 13 ISSUE 8 New Tools to Boost Efficiency at the Middle Republic Natural Resources District NEBRASKA EDITION

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4 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com. Copyright © 2020 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. CONTENTS SEPTEMBER 2022 Volume 13 Issue 8 8 New Tools to Boost Efficiency at the Middle Republic Natural Resources District 5 The Equipment Issue By Kris Polly 8 New Tools to Boost Efficiency at the Middle Republic Natural Resources District 16 Bryce Evans of Evans Equipment: DistrictsEquipmentRefurbishedReliableHeavyforIrrigation 22 The Aquatic Vegetation Rake: The Green Solution to Canal Waterweeds 26 Chris Crow of Kennewick Irrigation District: What It’s Like to Drive a D11 Bulldozer 28 Assura Software’s Asset Management Solutions THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS 32 Troy Allen Delta Lake Irrigation District 33 Jerry Gibbens Northern Water 36 José Nuncio Sorraia Valley Irrigators and Water Users Association 37 John O’Callaghan South Columbia Basin Irrigation District 38 Gerry Sheets Middle Loup Public Power and Irrigation District 39 Patrick Sullivan Elephant Butte Irrigation District 42 A Program to Help Frito-Lay’s Farmers With Land Stewardship That Boosts the Bottom Line 46 Reinke Brings Smiles to Family With Minipivot By Marilyn Ringen 51 JOB LISTINGS Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Elaine Robbins, Copyeditor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator Tom Wacker, Advertising Coordinator Patricia Bown, Media Assistant Eve Giordano, Media Assistant William Polly, Media Assistant Milo Schmitt, Media Assistant Amanda Schultz,Media Assistant SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 irrigation.leader@waterstrategies.comor ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 kris.polly@waterstrategies.comor or Tom Wacker at tom.wacker@waterstrategies.com CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com COVER PHOTO: Sylvia Johnson, Assistant Manager, and Jack Russell, General Manager, Middle Republican Natural Resources District. Photo courtesy of the MRNRD. an American company established in 2009. MRNRD.THEOFCOURTESYPHOTO /IrrigationLeader @IrrigationLeadr irrigationleader irrigationleadermagazine.com /company/water-strategies-llc

Troy Allen, the general manager of Delta Lake Irrigation District in Edcouch, Texas; Jerry Gibbens, the director of operations of Northern Water, based in Berthoud, Colorado; José Nuncio, the president of the Sorraia Valley Irrigators and Water Users Association, based in Coruche, Portugal; John O’Callaghan, the secretary/manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District in Pasco, Washington; Gerry Sheets, the general manager of the Middle Loup Public Power and Irrigation District in Arcadia, Nebraska; and Patrick Sullivan, the treasurer-manager of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Kris Polly, Water Strategies DC

4 E Street SE • Washington,

First, we speak with Jack Russell and Sylvia Johnson, the general manager and assistant manager of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District, about their groundwater management and telemetry projects and how they are helping farmers make their water use more efficient andTurningsustainable.toequipment, we speak with Bryce Evans, the co-owner of Missouri-based Evans Equipment, which acquires good-quality late-model heavy equipment from around the world, strips it down in most cases to the bare frame, and rebuilds it. Buying rehabilitated equipment from Evans can save customers 40–50 percent of the cost of new machines. Next, we speak with Bill Fuchs, the owner of Maximized Water Management and the inventor of the Aquatic Vegetation Rake, an excavator-mounted tool that quickly and effectively removes waterweeds from canals. What’s it actually like to drive Caterpillar’s D11 bulldozer, the largest one it manufactures? We talk to Chris Crow of Kennewick Irrigation District to find out. We also talk with Hamish Howard, the CEO and managing director of Assura Software, about his company’s asset-management solutions, which are used by several irrigation districts. Next, we feature a series of short interviews with professionals from irrigation districts across the nation and the world about how they acquire, maintain, and manage their vehicles and heavy equipment. Our interviewees are

Lyndon Vogt, the general manager of Nebraska’s Central Platte Natural Resource District, and Darren Cudaback, a conservation specialist with Precision Conservation Management, tell us about their partnership to help local growers with their water management practices.

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 5irrigationleadermagazine.com ADVERTISEMENT The best lobbyist on your issues will always be you. All you need to be successful is the guidance of experienced people. That is what we provide.

Finding, purchasing, maintaining, and retiring vehicles and heavy equipment are crucial tasks for irrigation districts. I hope that comparing your practices to those of the professionals we interview this month will give you new ideas and help you optimize your own practices.

Finally, we bring you a heartwarming story about how Reinke Manufacturing and Holdrege Irrigation built a one-fifth-scale center-pivot system for Blaize DeGroff, a 9 year old boy from Ord, Nebraska.

The Equipment Issue

By Kris Polly To build and maintain large networks of canals, laterals, and pipelines spanning many miles of territory, irrigation districts rely on fleets of vehicles and heavy equipment, which they must successfully and cost-effectively acquire, maintain, keep track of, and retire. This month, we focus on those assets.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

20003 www.waterstrategies.com • (202) 698-0690 ” “

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ItineraryIsrael

Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport. Following passport validation, a representative will assist with transport to Leonardo Plaza Netanya for dinner and overnight stay.

Travel to the Caesarea National Park to see the Roman aqueduct and water cistern, proceed to Kibbutz Magal, then visit the Netafim irrigation factory and the Meggido National Park’s ancient water system. Enjoy dinner and overnight stay in Tiberias, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Drive north to view the two main sources of the Jordan River, the Dan and Banias Rivers, then on to Mt. Bental to see the Golan Heights, the Syrian border, and Mt. Hermon. Enjoy a winery tour and tasting, then return to Tiberias for dinner and overnight stay. Begin the day at the National Water Carrier, the system that supplies water to vast regions of the country, then travel to Mt. Arbel for an amazing view of the Sea of Galilee. Drive to Mt. Gilboa and Kibbutz Maale Gilboa, where the Gilboa Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Poser Project is located. Proceed to Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu for an agriculture bio tour. Drive via the Jordan Valley and the Judean Desert to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight stay.

Water Education and Please save the date for the following scheduled tour, sponsored by Irrigation Leader, Municipal Water Leader, and Hydro Leader magazines and operated by Imagine Tours and Travel, LLC.

Drive to the Mount of Olives for a beautiful view over the Old City of Jerusalem, then visit the City of David, including the Hezekiah Tunnel. Brave the wet side or opt for the dry as you walk to the Pool of Siloam. Drive on to Armon Hanatziv to see ancient tunnels that brings water from Solomon’s Pool to the Temple. Enter the Old City to see the Western Wall, tunnels, Pool of Bethesda, and the Roman Cardo with its old wells. There will be an option to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher followed by dinner and overnight stay in Jerusalem.

Trade Tour Preview, Nov. 30–Dec. 10, 2022

Drive via the Ramon Crater to the Negev Desert Research and Development Center near Ashalim, which specializes in using salty water for agriculture.

• licensed English-speaking guide for all transfers and sightseeing days

• breakfasts and dinners at hotels and farewell dinner at local restaurant

Visit the Israel Museum, which houses the Shrine of the Book, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a miniature model of Jerusalem from the First Temple period. Drive to Sataf Spring in the Judean Hills to see how the citizens of the city get a few acres to grow their own vegetables and fruits while using an ancient irrigation system that leads water between terraces. Continue on to the Beit Zait Water Reservoir and Dam, followed by dinner and overnight stay in Jerusalem.

• meeting and assistance at Ben Gurion Airport on arrival • transfer to/from Ben Gurion Airport

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Travel through the Arava Desert Valley to the Yair Research and Development Agriculture Center and Center for Modern Desert Farming. Tour greenhouses and the agricultural inventions section, which focuses on the challenges of desert soil and climate. Continue to the ecological Kibbutz of Lotan to see how sandy soil is transformed to yield lush gardens and to hear about organic and permaculture tips that have helped the Center for Creative Ecology treat waste, raise healthy food, and save energy. Proceed to Eliat for a possible desalination facility tour, followed by dinner and overnight stay in the city.

Drive to the Einot Zukim Nature Reserve, which features an oasis of freshwater springs, vegetation, and animal life. Then, in the desert next to the Dead Sea, experience the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, where kibbutz members pump water for their mineral water factory. Continue on to the world heritage site of Masada, where participants can walk the snake trail by foot or ascend via cable car to see King Herod’s fortress, an ancient synagogue, a Byzantine church, and a water cistern. Proceed to Ein Bokek for dinner and overnight stay.

Early bird discount of $50 for reservations made by May 15, 2022, with a $500 deposit. All posted prices, services, and destinations are subject to the terms and conditions of a participant agreement.

• entrance fees for all visits and tours

For more information, please visit https://waterstrategies.com/israel-2022

Services Included

• luxury air-conditioned coach

• eight nights of hotel accommodation

$4,797.00 per attendee from Washington Dulles International $4,409.00 per attendee without airfare

Irrigation Leader, Municipal Water Leader, and Hydro Leader magazines are published by Water Strategies LLC.

Proceed to Kibbutz Hatzerim near Beer Sheva, which is the southern branch of the Netafim Irrigation Factory. Continue to a water desalination facility in Ashkelon or Ashdod on the Mediterranean Sea. Enjoy a farewell dinner in Jaffa and then drive to Ben Gurion Airport for a night flight home.

Participants are strongly recommended to separately secure comprehensive traveler's insurance.

One of the center-pivot systems in the MRNRD service area that benefits from telemetry meters.

he Middle Republican Natural Resource District (MRNRD) is one of Nebraska’s 23 natural resources districts (NRDs)—local, watershed-based agencies that handle a wide variety of environmental issues across the state, including groundwater quantity and quality, soil erosion, and flood prevention. In a district in which the largest source of water is groundwater—with an estimated 77 million acre-feet of water stored beneath the land surface—one of the MRNRD’s main focuses is groundwater management. To further this goal, it is using a WaterSMART grant from the Bureau of Reclamation to put updated telemetry meters on all its wells. The end goal is to provide all its farmers with real-time information on their water use, soil moisture, and other metrics. It is also developing a web-based dashboard and phone app that will provide effective tools for farmers.

Jack Russell: The MRNRD is one of four NRDs in Nebraska’s Republican River basin. We cover a little more than four counties and have about 295,000 acres of irrigated land. Half our district is cropland, about 12 percent of which is irrigated. The other half is range and pasture. The largest source of water in the district by far is groundwater, most of it from the Ogallala aquifer. Irrigation Leader: Tell us about your top issues.

Jack Russell: Our biggest concern is irrigation water management. In 1998, a lawsuit was filed related to the Republican River Compact between Colorado, Kansas, and

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how long you’ve been with the MRNRD.

Sylvia Johnson: I was born and raised in Alma, Nebraska, on a farm and ranch, and my husband and I farm and ranch today as well. I am the assistant manager of the MRNRD. I’ve been here for 13 years. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the MRNRD.

New Tools to Boost Efficiency at the Middle Republic Natural Resources District

Jack Russell: I’ve been with the MRNRD for 9 years. I grew up on the Republican River, about 100 miles east of here. I spent some time working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in other states and had the opportunity to come back to Nebraska.

In this interview, MRNRD General Manager Jack Russell and Assistant Manager Sylvia Johnson tell us how this new technology will help farmers make their water use efficient and sustainable.

8 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com MRNRD.THEOFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Nebraska, and after the Supreme Court ruled on the matter in 2002, one of the final settlement stipulations was for the NRDs in the Republican River basin to put meters on all irrigation wells. Since that settlement, we have had to make sure that all the NRDs in the Republican basin meet the compact’s rules and get Kansas the water it is entitled to. That and water conservation are the MRNRD’s highest priorities.

irrigationleadermagazine.com

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 9

Irrigation Leader: What specific actions have you taken toward that end?

We have found that this system reduced the water use of participating growers by 10 percent. When you consider that the MRNRD uses about 245,000 acre-feet of water each year for irrigation, 10 percent is quite a lot, not just for the compact but for landowners. It wasn’t realistic to install high-tech irrigation systems with soil moisture probes on all 2,600 wells in our district, so we focused on installing just the telemetry meters, which is half of the high-tech system. So far, we’ve installed telemetry flow meters on about

Future farmer Ralph Robison, Sylvia Johnson’s nephew. Protecting Nebraska agriculture for the next generation is the motivation for the MRNRD’s work.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your recent irrigation water management projects.

Sylvia Johnson: First, we hired a hydrologist engineer to build groundwater models for us. He studied the land, watershed by watershed, and created models using 40 acre cells. We have done many recharge projects with surface water canals in the district to help build our knowledge and understanding of the connections between surface water and groundwater. Most recently, we’ve conducted aerial electromagnetic (AEM) surveys using a helicopter to gather data for groundwater modeling. Once those models are complete, we can use them to provide solutions for farmers. We have also started putting new telemetry meters on customers’ irrigation wells that will provide them with realtime data for irrigation management.

Jack Russell: About 4 or 5 years ago, the MRNRD initiated a high-tech irrigation project. We put telemetry on existing meters and also installed telemetry-equipped soil moisture probes. These initial high-tech irrigation systems measure how much water is being applied, rainfall, pressure, and soil moisture. They transmit all this information via telemetry to a server that is accessible to both the producers and the MRNRD. These meters allow us to monitor and certify how much irrigation water is being used. The producers can see in real time how rainfall affects their soil moisture and whether more water is needed.

Jack Russell: When I came here 9 years ago, the district was just finishing up the Nebraska Cooperative Republican Platte Enhancement Project, which aimed to augment stream flows in the Republican and Platte Rivers to help meet the terms of the compact. Beyond that, my goal is to make irrigation in our district more efficient.

Sylvia Johnson’s dogs Daisy and Grace in the shade during the dog days of 2022’s long, hot, dry summer.

10 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com MRNRD.THEOFCOURTESYPHOTOS 1,500 of those wells. We found with our high-tech systems that some of the original meters did not meet specifications or were malfunctioning, so we made the decision to replace them with new McCrometer FlowConnect meters, which can automatically collect and transmit flow data from the meters to our in-house servers, providing accurate and reliable information for water resource management.

To fund this work, we’ve obtained grants from Reclamation’s WaterSMART program and the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources’ Water Sustainability Fund, and we’re applying for more. We have also established 10 weather stations across the district. We’re finding, particularly this year, that the rain comes in strips. One location might get an inch of rain while a location a quarter mile away gets nothing. The more weather stations we get out there, the more tools we can give farmers.

Irrigation Leader: What has been the reaction to these new tools from some of your farmers?

Jack Russell: We discussed our high-tech system with some farmers at an America’s Conservation Ag Movement meeting here about a month ago. Some of the farmers who had used the system love the fact that they know how much water they’re applying and that they’re saving water. Some say that the first thing they do every morning is to look at their systems to see how much water has been applied, check the soil moisture, and act accordingly. When we roll out the dashboard, we’ll set up small or one-on-one meetings with The MRNRD covers a little more than four counties and has about 295,000 acres of irrigated land.

Irrigation Leader: Do you plan to provide more of your producers with real-time information that they can access through a phone app? Sylvia Johnson: JEO Consulting Group in Lincoln, Nebraska, is designing us a web-based dashboard and phone app. We’re in the preliminary stages of development. Initially, growers will be able to use it to check their real-time water usage through their telemetry meters, soil moisture, and weather. We want to incorporate GIS mapping so that they can see their certified acres. Later, we’d like to make it possible for farmers to do their chemigation through the dashboard. We’re looking at potentially including water quality data and water level monitoring. We have transducers that measure the depth of the water table in real time. Just about everything we do in the office we’d eventually like to have online. The goal is to develop a dashboard that we can easily modify to provide any relevant data to help the farmers. This will require a seamless connection between our server and the dashboard. For example, each well has a specific number of certified irrigated acres that it can water. If this dashboard is to be an effective tool for landowners, it must accurately reflect the certified irrigated acres. Any changes made to these certified acres on the server in the office must automatically be updated to the dashboard. Making that work has been a challenge, but I think we’ll soon have a tool that we can start to roll out.

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 11irrigationleadermagazine.com every producer to go over what’s available to them. It’s not something that they have to go look for; all they will have to do is log in and get started.

Jack Russell: We have secured enough funding to finish our telemetry meter project. We are applying for another WaterSMART grant, but whether we get that or not, I believe we will be in a position to finish our entire project within the next couple of years. Everybody out there will have telemetry meters. As soon as we complete our AEM surveys, we can start rolling out information to help farmers understand where there is or isn’t water. We find that the more accurate the data, the more interest there is in using it. We’re not doing this to try to meet the compact; we’re not doing it for the district; we’re doing it for the farmers. The irrigators in the MRNRD will not have to be a part of a project or study; they will have access to the most current and accurate data and tools available.

The MRNRD has started putting telemetry meters on customers’ irrigation wells to provide them with real-time data for irrigation management.

Irrigation Leader: What are your next steps?

Sylvia Johnson: There’s nothing good about a drought, but I will say that last year and this year, we’re seeing farmers start to pay attention to their meters more and more. When they’re having rain, they know they’re not going to be using their allocations, and they don’t necessarily worry about it. Right now, we’re at the end of an allocation period and moving into a new one, and farmers are watching their irrigation water closely.

Irrigation Leader: What is your message to farmers? What would you like them to know about the work that you’re doing?

Jack Russell: We’re trying to give them the tools to be as efficient as possible so that we will have irrigation water in the Middle Republican basin for future generations. We want to keep all our producers viable. Other states and even some other parts of Nebraska are at risk of running out of water over time. We’re not there, and we want to make sure that we don’t get there. IL

Jack Russell is the general manager of the Middle Republican Natural Resources District. He can be contacted at Sylviajrussell@mrnrd.org.Johnsonisthe assistant manager of the MRNRD. She can be contacted at visitForsjohnson@mrnrd.orgmoreabouttheMRNRD,mrnrd.org.

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Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and your company.

e all know that buying a car can be expensive and stressful. Now imagine buying a several-milliondollar bulldozer or excavator! Missouri-based Evans Equipment lowers both the cost and the anxiety level by refurbishing mid-life heavy equipment that it acquires from trusted sources in the United States and around the world. It then rebuilds it, sometimes from the frame up, and sells it to clients that include irrigation districts. This can save customers 40–50 percent on the cost of a new machine. In this interview, Evans Equipment Co-owner Bryce Evans tells us more.

A Caterpillar D11T bulldozer rebuilt by Evans Equipment.

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Bryce Evans: Historically, we relied on the agricultural community of Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska for our primary sales. My brother and I came on board full time after we got out of school in 1980— we’d worked summers before then—and we made our first international sale that year. In 1980, we also bought 35 units that had been in Iraq from a German contractor. Since then, we’ve never looked back on international dealings. We’ve dealt in 37 or 38 countries, including most of the countries in South America, a lot of African countries, Russia, pretty much every country in Europe, and Japan. I think Caterpillar has around 40 percent of its world production in the United States, which means that around 60 percent of it is overseas. We bring the equipment over to the United States. When we bring it in from Europe, it arrives on the East Coast. Equipment from Japan comes into California. Equipment from South America comes into Houston. Then, we ship it by freight to Missouri to refurbish it. If we acquire machines that we don’t have to rebuild, we leave them in locations in other states and sell them from there. We do sometimes sell back to the countries that we buy from, but primarily, our sales are in North America. We sell to a lot of big companies. Companies that have historically bought new for their big projects will buy our equipment when they have a 2 to 4 year project overseas. We’ll often get a chance to buy it back at the end of that project.

EQUIPMENT.EVANSOFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Bryce Evans: I’m Bryce Evans, the co-owner of Evans Equipment in Concordia, Missouri. We restore and sell equipment, primarily Caterpillar equipment, but also some Hitachi, Euclid, and Komatsu. The scope of our business entails rebuilding and refurbishing later-model equipment at its midlife stage, when it is ready for the first or second rebuild. That normally means anywhere from 8,500 to 30,000 hours. Our sweet spot is the larger range of Caterpillar equipment, which includes dozers, tractors, scrapers, trucks, motor graders, and larger wheel loaders. Our company started its 57th year on August 1.

Irrigation Leader: Where do you source the used equipment from, and where do you sell it?

Bryce Evans of Evans Equipment: Reliable Refurbished Heavy Equipment for Irrigation Districts

Bryce Evans: A first-time rebuild is easier because some parts may not have to be replaced. A lot of our machines are taken down to the bare frame. Machines that have been stripped down like that are the easiest to sell because everything in them is new. When I’m talking to a customer, I’ve got a parts list that looks like a Sears Roebuck catalog.

Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the process of refurbishment? How far do you disassemble the machines? How many parts are you just cleaning rather than replacing?

A lot of dealers do not want to do the refurbishment process that we do. They want to do what’s called a component exchange because it’s easier and more profitable for them. We take 2,000 man-hours to take a machine completely apart, check it, and put in everything, down to the bolts. It costs thousands of dollars just to put the bolts on an undercarriage. There is nothing cheap on a bulldozer that can cost $2.4–$3 million.

A Caterpillar 24M motor grader rebuilt by Evans Equipment.

So all the major refurbishment happens at your headquarters in Missouri?

Irrigation Leader: Do you have people who just want you to rebuild or refurbish their machines?

Irrigation

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 17irrigationleadermagazine.com

Leader:

Irrigation Leader: How do you find the used machines that you refurbish? What kind of process do you go through to make sure that they are worth refurbishing?

Bryce Evans: Especially when we’re buying abroad, we have people we trust to go look at them for us. But the most important thing is knowing the company you’re buying from and knowing the applications they’ve used their machines for. When machines, particularly later-model machines, are selling at auction, they sometimes come from companies that have gone bankrupt or haven’t maintained them. If you don’t know where they came from, you may buy a problem. (Don’t ask me how I know that; I’ve made that mistake before.) We like knowing the company and having somebody we trust to go look at the machines. We like to know the company’s maintenance program and what it has spent on it so that we have a good figure in our minds for what it’s going to cost to refurbish the machine and sell it here in the United States. The people that we deal with are the cream of the crop. A mining company that is buying a machine from us may own 30 of them. That means it is a good source for us to go to learn about the idiosyncrasies of the machines if we’re rebuilding one and having a problem with something. A lot of times, a dealer might not have sold enough of them to know. If you own 30 of them, you know everything that could go wrong with them.

Bryce Evans: Ninety-nine percent of it does. There were a few machines we bought in Australia, and because they were so big, we decided to refurbish them there. We hired mechanics who had previously worked for big contractors to do the rebuild over there.

Bryce Evans: People want us to rebuild their machines all the time, and if we could get organized to do it, it would be a phenomenal business. A lot of people keep their equipment perhaps too long. We’ve been able to show them that there is still value in their 45,000 hour machine, and that if they trade it to us, we can sell them a rebuilt machine with only 15,000 hours. When they look at the dollar difference and see that they can buy a machine that’s 2 or 3 years newer and has a third of the hours, it gets their attention. We do a lot of that. People may think they don’t have the budget, so a lot of the time, we’ll sell their old machines for them so that they can afford a machine we refurbish.

Bryce Evans: Normally 40–50 percent.

The Evans Equipment headquarters in Concordia, Missouri.

Bryce Evans: We have not been involved with center pivots. We’ve worked on generators and engines, obviously, but never the center pivots themselves. That’s a huge market, but it’s not in our wheelhouse.

Bryce Evans: Normally several months. If you’ve got four people per machine, you’re looking at 600–800 manhours per person. But you’ve got other things to do, too. Machines come in and have to be loaded and unloaded. Other machines might be a priority. In today’s world, parts availability is our limiting factor. We’ve waited 4–6 months for a part from Caterpillar, which has historically had the best parts availability. The other brands are worse.

Bryce Evans is the co-owner of Evans Equipment. He can be contacted at sales@evansequip.com

EQUIPMENT.EVANSOFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Irrigation Leader: How long does a full rebuild take?

Irrigation Leader: What kind of equipment do irrigation districts generally want from you?

Irrigation Leader: Have you ever worked on irrigation equipment, such as center pivots?

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else that would be of interest to the irrigation market?

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Bryce Evans: Most of the people that I’ve talked to are looking at smaller machines, though Kennewick Irrigation District talked to us for some time about its equipment requirements and, in the end, went with the biggest ones. It’s incredible to see how it’s working out for the district— it is now ahead of schedule on its project. Most of the irrigation districts have got smaller machines. Incidentally, in the last week we bought 22 smaller trackhoes that irrigation districts might be able to use: Caterpillar 308s to 315s and some smaller Komatsus. A lot of these machines have 400–1,100 hours. In today’s environment, because of supply chain issues, many of these machines are sold out or hard to get. Often, they are only available from Cat dealers as part of their rental fleet. We’re excited to be able to offer these kinds of machines.

Everybody today has supply-chain problems.

Irrigation Leader: In general, how much can your customers save by buying refurbished machines instead of new ones?

Bryce Evans: If you can find a low-hour machine that has been maintained correctly, you can save a lot and put that money in the bank. In some cases, it’s taken us 20 years to convince a company to buy equipment from us, and one of the ways I have finally been able to get it to look at our equipment was to say, “With the interest I’m saving you over 1 year alone, you can buy a brand-new, out-of-box component every year or two.” Saving that kind of money does an awful lot for repairs and cost studies. IL

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MANAGEMENT.WATERMAXIMIZEDOFCOURTESYPHOTOS

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Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your company and its history. Bill Fuchs: In past years, the Silkey Canal hired a backhoe to remove waterweeds from the canal, and the backhoe only got a few weeds out of the canal and made a big mess in the process. I realized that there had to be a better way to remove waterweeds from the canal. I have always been a creative person and a problem solver, and I am willing to find a solution. That experience got me thinking, and I started Maximized Water Management LLC in 2010. I went on a road trip around Idaho and met with other canal managers and asked them how they were dealing with their waterweeds. I saw the rakes that they had built or bought in the past, and they told me about the limitations of their effectiveness. For the most part, these were rakes they had built in their own shops and mounted on excavators. Most of them were overbuilt. I hired engineers to analyze my ideas for the AVR and started building prototypes. That process took about 3 years, in part because we have a short growing season and I had to wait until around July to have sufficient weed growth to test the device. Since then, I have continued to improve and prove up the AVR as a product.

Bill Fuchs: Most of my clients are irrigation companies or districts, though they also include a county mosquito control district, a paper mill, and a mine reclamation company. While the AVR is very effective for removing aquatic vegetation, it is also useful for removing floating debris that restricts flow in waterways. I have clients in Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and South Carolina. Many of my clients find us by searching for YouTube videos of vegetation rakes. I have several videos that show the AVR cleaning canals.

Irrigation Leader: How did you invent the AVR, and how does it work?

Bill Fuchs: My father was a machinist and taught me the importance of using the right tool for the job. My uncle was an inventor and would build new items or improve existing models. I realized years ago the abilities of hydraulic power and what it can do to save manpower. Excavator machines are now able to do much more than dig holes. There are tools that can attach to the boom, including rock grinders, tiltrotators, and grapples. I invented a tool, the AVR, that gives excavators a way to capture waterweeds and debris while not lifting the weight of the water. It solves the problem of how to remove waterweeds from a waterway, including the roots, quickly and efficiently.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position. Bill Fuchs: I am a third-generation Idahoan with a bachelor of science degree from Idaho State University. I spent 22 years selling building materials while also managing the family ranch and farm. I spent 15 years as a board member and the watermaster of the Silkey Canal, a small irrigation canal in Fremont County in southeastern Idaho.

The Aquatic Vegetation Rake: The Green Solution to Canal Waterweeds

Irrigation Leader: Who are your clients, and where are they located geographically?

Bill Fuchs of Maximized Water Management is the inventor of the Aquatic Vegetation Rake (AVR), an excavator-mounted tool that removes waterweeds from canals without damaging their banks or requiring dewatering. By completely removing waterweeds, the AVR improves downstream water quality and reduces subsequent regrowth. In this interview, Mr. Fuchs tells us about the origins of the AVR, the results it gets, and why more and more clients are coming to see that the device really is as good as he says.

The AVR in action.

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Bill Fuchs: Yes, it can. I build different-sized AVRs for different-sized excavators. The difficulty is that different brands of excavators have proprietary connections on their booms. They’re not like a receiver hitch on a pickup that you can hook anything to. So, besides building the AVR, we build what’s called a pin bracket to interface between the excavator and the AVR. If the customer changes brands of excavators or has excavators of several different brands, I build them different pin brackets so that they can hook the AVR to different machines.

Excavators now have precision hydraulics controlled with joysticks and other enhancements. In the past, hydraulic precision was used to salvage parts of the Titanic. Now, there are even better hydraulic controls that allow for efficient weed control.

Bill Fuchs: Access depends on how the canal easements are maintained. Some have roads, and some don’t. The excavator will need to be able to work from one side of the canal to remove the waterweeds.

Irrigation Leader: Do you rent the AVR to your customers, or do you sell it to them?

Bill Fuchs: I am getting some traction with the AVR. People are realizing that it actually works as well as I have told them. I will expand AVR production as needed, though the prices and availability of steel have been a challenge over the last couple of years. I hope we have gotten over those supply issues. I do have plans to build modified AVRs for cleaning IL Bill Fuchs is the owner of Maximized Water Management. He can be contacted at bill@maximizedwatermanagement.com.

Bill Fuchs: The length of time varies depending on the canal system. There are many variables on a canal that will slow down the cleaning process, including how many headgates, fences, bridges, buildings, and powerlines need to be worked around. The operator needs to be aware of these. Adding a tiltrotator will increase the excavator’s abilities, productivity, and flexibility by at least 30 percent.

In 2021, the Lower Yellowstone Irrigation Project (LYIP) borrowed an AVR from Billings Bench Water Association to clean over 62 miles of canals that were overtopping because of waterweed growth. The AVR immediately improved flows to farmers downstream and the LYIP soon started using it on each lateral. After using it for 1 week and seeing the results, the LYIP ordered its own AVR! The AVR improves debris removal during spring canal priming and anytime during the season when weeds or debris in front of structures are a problem. The LYIP says it is more effective and easier to use than all other methods it has tried in its 115 years of operations.

Irrigation Leader: What kind of access does the AVR need to reach canal banks?

Irrigation Leader: How long does it generally take for the AVR to clear out a canal? Do you address certain problem locations, or go all the way up and down a canal?

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any plans for expansion?

Irrigation Leader: What are the advantages of the AVR over alternative methods of removing aquatic vegetation?

Bill Fuchs: Customers have experienced faster and longer waterweed control. My customers are satisfied with the AVR and the results it has given them. They are getting control of their waterweeds and saving money. They often recommend the AVR to others and refer them to my company. Cole Peeples, the manager of the Pondera Canal and Reservoir Company, told me, “It’s phenomenal how quickly the AVR increases the velocity of the water in the areas that have been cleaned! We are very pleased with this tool.”

Bill Fuchs: I manufacture and sell them now. I used to clean canals here in Idaho with my excavator and AVR, but I’m getting older, and I don’t want to be the guy sitting in the excavator anymore. I’ve also realized that it’s better for a customer to have their own AVR so that there is less risk of spreading invasive weeds from one system to another. That said, I have sold them to contractors who will use them in various systems.

Irrigation Leader: Can the AVR fit onto any standard excavator?

Irrigation Leader: What other results have your customers seen?

Bill Fuchs: There are several advantages to using the AVR. The first advantage is that nothing is poured, applied, or released into the water. It simply removes the weeds. Because the AVR lets you avoid using chemicals, I refer to it as the green solution to waterweed control. Second, the AVR removes weeds while the water is still in the canal. Every scoop with the AVR removes weeds and allows the water to flow again. The AVR has also been shown to offer longer control than alternatives—it allows customers to control their waterweeds and floating debris for years. By removing the waterweeds upstream, we reduce the nutrient loads going down the waterway. Another advantage is that the AVR removes all types of waterweeds. The basket rods in the AVR are about 1 inch apart, so not much gets away.

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What It’s Like to Drive a D11 Bulldozer

Irrigation Leader: What advice do you have for people who are just getting into operating heavy equipment and dozers?

Chris Crow on KID’s Caterpillar D11. Chris Crow (right) and a colleague in front of the blade of KID’s D11.

Irrigation Leader: How did you first learn to drive a bulldozer? Is it something you learned by doing, or did you do some sort of course?

Chris Crow: All it takes is a lot of seat time. IL

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Chris Crow: The D11, which we recently bought from Evans Equipment, is the biggest of them all—it’s the biggest dozer Caterpillar makes. I’ve been on numerous dozers, and that one will out-push them all. It’s got a four-way blade. The rest of our dozers have six-way blades. In addition to the D11, KID has a Caterpillar D6, a Caterpillar D8, a John Deere 450, a John Deere 650, and a John Deere 850.

Chris Crow: I’ve been in construction for the last 35 years, and I’ve worked at KID for the last 24 years. My family owned construction outfits, which is how I got into this line of work. My main duty at KID is running heavy equipment. I run the excavator, the loader, and the bulldozers.

Chris Crow: It’s about 36 feet long and weighs 248,500 pounds. It can push 40 cubic yards.

Irrigation Leader: What sorts of dozers does KID have, and how do they differ from each other?

Chris Crow is an equipment operator at the Kennewick Irrigation District. He can be contacted at (509) 586 9111. For more about KID, visit kid.org.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Irrigation Leader: How large is the D11?

Chris Crow of Kennewick Irrigation District:

Chris Crow: I learned through family. Our family owned a construction company years ago. The new D11 is pretty similar to the other dozers we’ve been using. I used a D10 for a couple of years, which is similar, just the next size down.

Irrigation Leader: What is visibility like when you’re driving the D11?

Irrigation

Chris Crow: You can’t even really see all around yourself. You just look at the corners and see what’s coming up. You can’t see over the blade, so you’ve got to look ahead to see what’s coming at you.

In this interview, Mr. Crow tells us about his work.

Leader: How much diesel does it use?

Chris Crow has a family background in construction and has worked as a heavy equipment operator at the Kennewick Irrigation District (KID) for 24 years. At KID, he operates some of the biggest heavy equipment on the market, including Caterpillar’s top-of-the-line D11 bulldozer.

Irrigation Leader: How do four-way and six-way blades differ? Chris Crow: It refers to the way you can adjust the angle of the blade. A four-way blade moves on two axes: it can go up and down, and it can tilt. The six-way blade can also turn its right end or left end forward.

Chris Crow: I use 80–130 gallons a day when I’m running it.

KID.OFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Hamish Howard: I grew up on a fourth-generation familyowned sheep and cropping farm on the Canterbury Plains on the South Island of New Zealand. In the early 1980s, my father installed a mainline irrigation system, so I learned firsthand how irrigation could change the economics of farming. My first job out of university was for a seed production company, and they told me, “You’re the youngest, you’re doing the computers,” to which I responded in my head, “But that has nothing to do with my degree!” I proceeded by trial and error—it was occasionally a baptism by fire. From there, I went on to build an information technology business of my own, which through equal helpings of hard work and good fortune, we successfully grew and sold. After the sale of that company, I realized I didn’t like golf enough to retire, nor did I have the funds to get good enough at golf for that to be my new career. Then along came Assura Software.

Hamish Howard: Assura Software is a New Zealand–based software business that provides solutions to a range of central and local government clients and many private firms. The Assura platform is a configurable workflow engine, which means we can emulate how information is captured in an organization and manage how it flows through it, all with the intention of making sure that the right people are doing the right things at the right time. Through a number of serendipitous events and connections, we have started to establish a client base among the U.S. irrigation districts. The irrigation product is what in nerd talk is called low code, no code, which effectively means we have a base solution and can quickly configure it to reflect your processes and language. This also means that you can continue to grow and evolve the solution within your district as your needs change. What I’m most proud of is the people who choose to work here at Assura Software. They’re nice people, they’re smart people, and they genuinely want the best outcomes for our clients. My job is to stay out of the way while they’re doing that. Assura can be accessed via mobile phone in the field.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background and experience.

ASSURA.OFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Asset Management Solutions

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New Zealand–based tech company Assura has worked with numerous U.S. irrigation district clients to create customized asset-management solutions. Assura can be used to track vehicles, heavy equipment, pumps, and more, recording maintenance and inspections and alerting staff when assets need attention. Assura combines the ease of an off-the-shelf solution with full customizability and robust support services. In this interview, CEO and Managing Director Hamish Howard fills us in on Assura’s asset-management capabilities.

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about Assura Software.

Assura

Software’s

Irrigation

Irrigation Leader: How can Assura be adapted to a specific irrigation district’s needs?

Third, it can be used to ensure that the right process is followed for submitting and approving permits for the things people request, such as putting a bridge over a canal.

Hamish Howard: A simple example is that a district could use Assura to drive regular inspections or the maintenance of a pump, vehicle, or any other asset. The asset is loaded in the system with as much detail as required, and then you can choose to set up recurring tasks or requirements for inspection and maintenance. This would appear to field staff on the mobile app as a checklist of tasks to complete: check fluid levels, grease, replace o rings, and so on. Staff can record notes verbally or take photos for review by a manager. This process captures the historical work that has been performed on an asset or the work that is due, providing a more complete picture of the asset. If an inspection or maintenance task is skipped, managers are alerted for follow-up. If any work is required as part of an inspection, the system alerts the appropriate person. It can also alert the user to other tasks that are due. If you’ve traveled to an area to complete some work, it allows you to see whether other maintenance work is due in that area. This ensures that you take the right equipment and don’t have to make multiple trips to the same location.

Irrigation Leader: How might an irrigation district use Assura to manage maintenance and other periodic needs for large equipment?

Irrigation Leader: What kind of support do you provide?

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 29irrigationleadermagazine.com

Second, it can be used for spray applications, allocating what is to be sprayed and recording where and when it is applied. It allows the field worker to have all that information at their fingertips and to report back to management on progress and completion as well as factors such as wind direction and speed at the time of spraying. Then, it allows for the easy preparation of a report to state authorities about the aquatic and terrestrial spraying that has taken place. The mobile app can also provide links to safety information about the chemicals.

Fourth, it can be used to make sure water quality testing is happening at the right time and that the right information is being captured.

Hamish Howard: Our support team is available on the phone, via e-mail, or on a video call if they need to share a screen. Most importantly, the support costs are all covered in the license fee, so you’re not going to be charged for calling us to ask questions or get help. We want you to use the solution and get the most out of it. I’ll also point out they’re all native English speakers (well, they speak the Kiwi version of English) and know the product well. The solution itself is hosted on Microsoft Azure, so it is available 24/7. We also continue to add features and functionality to the solution, which are rolled out to everyone as part of your license.

Hamish Howard: Assura comes as a completed product that you can use straightaway for a number of needs, but it can also be quickly configured to provide other solutions or changed in the future as your business needs evolve.

Hamish Howard: The out-of-the-box solution covers the basic functions of asset management you’d expect it to, so you can capture the base details of the asset in as much or as little detail as required. This, in turn, allows you to record inspections of the asset and the work completed on it and identify when maintenance is due. From there, we can configure the solution to cater to any other needs you might have, such as recording mileage associated with work orders or identifying the hazards and risks that come with the operation of the asset to keep staff informed and safe. We can also use a QR code on an asset to search for it inside the app. You can scan the QR code using your cell phone camera to see the asset’s full history or to associate it with a task. In practical terms, our asset management solution is used for a range of tasks at irrigation districts, including ensuring that vehicle checks take place with photographic proof, providing information about pumps and engines to crews in the field, ensuring crews take the right spares out to the site for repairs, and driving both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance.

IL Hamish Howard is the CEO and managing director of Assura Software. He can be contacted hamish.howard@assurasoftware.comat

Here are some examples of how it’s being used in irrigation districts. First, it can be used for work orders and field reports—capturing planned and unplanned work that needs to happen in the district throughout the seasons and ensuring it doesn’t get forgotten. This allows field workers to see what their jobs are and report them back to the office and allows managers to focus only on the things that aren’t happening, which we call management by exception.

Leader: What are Assura’s asset management capabilities, particularly for vehicles and other large equipment?

Are you getting Irrigation Leader magazine? Subscribe today at www.irrigationleadermagazine.com and read about the people creating the solutions in the irrigation industry. ADVERTISEMENT

Irrigation Leader: How do you buy or bid for equipment?

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

Troy Allen: The district uses BuyBoard, SmartBuy, HGACBuy, and direct manufacture bidding for equipment and vehicle purchases. Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and pieces of equipment before replacing them?

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Troy Allen is the general manager of the Delta Lake Irrigation District. He can be contacted at troy@deltalakeid.org

Troy Allen: The district replaces the canal-rider and supervisor trucks every 5–6 years or 200,000 miles. The crew, service, and welding trucks are replaced every 10–15 years or 200,000 miles. We keep the best trucks and cycle them down to the pumpers and helpers or use them as spare vehicles. We retire most trucks at 300,000–350,000 miles. The equipment is replaced between 18,000 and 22,000 hours. IL

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment?

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance?

Troy Allen: The district’s vehicle fleet consists of 14 lightduty trucks, 16 medium- to heavy-duty trucks, 1 dump truck, and 1 haul truck. The district’s equipment fleet consists of 7 tractors, 3 backhoes, 2 dozers, 2 loaders, 8 excavators, and 1 forklift.

Troy Allen General Manager Delta Lake Irrigation District Edcouch, TX

Predominant irrigation methods: Flood, drip, sprinkler

Number of employees: 51 Size of service area in acres: 70,000 Amount of water diverted for irrigation per year in acre-feet: 125,000 Main crops irrigated: Citrus fruit, corn, cotton, grain, sugarcane, vegetables

Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

Troy Allen: The vehicles and equipment follow the manufacturers’ recommended service intervals. Depending on the daily use of the vehicle or equipment, we decide if we follow the severe or extreme service intervals for all the fluid changes. We use a synthetic oil for all our fluid services. We take samples of the motor, transmission, hydraulic, and differential oils every service to make sure we catch any potential issues.

DISTRICT.IRRIGATIONLAKEDELTATHEOFCOURTESYPHOTO

Troy Allen: The district keeps a physical and digital file on each vehicle and piece of equipment. The file consists of all the oil samples and records of the required service, parts, material, and labor, if any.

Jerry Gibbens Director of Operations Northern Water Berthoud, CO

Number of employees: 165 Size of service area in acres: 1.6 million; about 600,000 irrigated

Jerry Gibbens is the director of operations at Northern Water. He can be contacted at jgibbens@northernwater.org

Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and pieces of equipment before replacing them?

Jerry Gibbens: Equipment replacements and additions are incorporated into our annual fleet capital budget. Once that budget is approved, our facilities and equipment department creates a specification for each unit. We first seek to use our eligibility in the Colorado Multiple Assembly of Procurement Officials, which is a statewide cooperative purchasing program. If vehicles or equipment are not available through that program (which is more common for equipment, especially specialized heavy equipment), we investigate availability through other intergovernmental purchasing agreements, including through the U.S. General Services Administration, or we issue a request for quote. More recently, because of the nationwide shortage in vehicle availability in all programs, we have made a few off-the-lot purchases of vehicles and smaller equipment.

Jerry Gibbens: Consistent with our long-term fleet modernization plan, sedans are typically replaced after 80,000 miles; SUVs after 95,000 miles; and pickups between 95,000 and 140,000 miles, depending on age and condition. Through financial analyses developed during our fleet modernization plan, we identified a 7 to 10 year replacement schedule for all large trucks and equipment. We found this was the ideal replacement schedule to leverage buying power through the various purchasing programs and resale value.

Predominant irrigation methods: Flood, pivot

Jerry Gibbens: All maintenance requests and records are entered, tracked, and stored in our Maintenance Connection enterprise asset management system. Staff track vehicle mileage and equipment hours by activity for each unit to ensure that the appropriate funding source pays for those uses according to a standard rate schedule. Based our experience in seeking Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster recovery grant funding (particularly our experiences in the 2013 Colorado Front Range floods), we consider it extremely important to ensure that staff time, expenses, and vehicle usage are consistently and accurately tracked.

WATER.NORTHERNOFCOURTESYPHOTO

Irrigation

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 33irrigationleadermagazine.com

Main crops irrigated: Alfalfa, corn

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance?

Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

Amount of water diverted per year for irrigation in acre-feet: 220,000 diverted on average with about 50 percent used for irrigation

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

Jerry Gibbens: Northern Water’s fleet contains 19 sedans and SUVs, 46 light- and medium-duty pickups, 36 heavy-duty through tandem-axle dump trucks, 42 trailers and pieces of small equipment, and 24 pieces of heavy equipment. For reference, about 60 of Northern Water’s approximately 165 staff are directly involved in the day-to-day operation and maintenance of water infrastructure and facilities. We have developed a long-term fleet modernization plan based on historical, current, and future needs. With current economic conditions and with multiple emergencies in recent years that have affected availability and price in the rental market, we have decided to acquire several pieces of equipment that we previously rented, including a new semitractor and lowboy, two new excavators, and several other smaller pieces of equipment.

Leader: How do you buy or bid for equipment?

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment? Jerry Gibbens: We have a 10,000 square-foot fleet maintenance shop at our Berthoud headquarters campus staffed by one mechanic and one fabricator who provide full services on vehicles every 3,000–5,000 miles and on equipment every 100 hours or per manufacturer’s recommendations. We also have a newly constructed shop of approximately the same size at our new Willow Creek Campus, which is located near Granby, on the west slope of the Continental Divide. Our staff can perform routine maintenance, conduct most repairs (those that aren’t under warranty), replace tires and consumables as required, perform minor interior and exterior body repairs and specialized fabrications, perform new vehicle make-ready setups, and perform Department of Transportation inspections. Each of our campuses also contains newly constructed fuel islands and wash bays.

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The

Number of employees: 63 Size of service area in acres: 55,105

José Nuncio is the president of the Sorraia Valley Irrigators and Water Users Association. He can be contacted at secretariado@fenareg.pt

Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

Irrigation Leader: How do you buy or bid for equipment? José Nuncio: We invite three entities to submit proposals. Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and pieces of equipment before replacing them?

José Nuncio: It depends on the condition of each piece of equipment and on the cost of maintenance and can vary from 5 to 20 years.

José Nuncio President Sorraia Valley Irrigators and Water Users Association Coruche, Portugal

Predominant irrigation methods: Drip tape, flood, pivot

Total amount of water diverted per year for irrigation in Billed—105,393; available—133,768 Main irrigated crops: Almonds, corn, grapes, pasture, rice

José Nuncio: One truck to transport heavy equipment, 1 crane truck, 1 3.5 ton truck, 11 pickup trucks, 2 cars, 4 Cat 320 excavators; 2 Cat 428 backhoes, 1 Fendt 130 cv tractor, and 1 Bobcat.

José Nuncio: Preventive maintenance, including periodic inspections and oil changes, and corrective maintenance carried out by two mechanics from the association and, in special cases, third parties.

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment?

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

36 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com

USERS.SSOCIATION.WATERANDIRRIGATORSVALLEYSORRAIATHEOFCOURTESYPHOTO

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance? José Nuncio: None.

Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

John O’Callaghan is the secretary/ manager of the South Columbia Basin Irrigation District. He can be contacted at jocallaghan@scbid.org

John O’Callaghan: Pieces of equipment and vehicles are classed according to their role. Frontline vehicles and equipment are vital to our day-to-day operations and have priority when considering replacements. The fleet is evaluated continuously, and we can take advantage of equipment that performs above expectations. We may choose to invest more in such equipment and run it longer if it looks like it will last. Our general guidelines, which are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, are that we replace excavators and wheel loaders after 10,000 hours; road graders after 15,000 hours; dump trucks after a minimum of 250,000 miles; frontline vehicles after 100,000 miles; and highway and secondary vehicles after 150,000 miles. IL

John O’Callaghan: We own 150 pickup trucks; 100 pieces of equipment, including excavators, wheel loaders, road graders, dozers, dump trucks, straight trucks, and trailers; and 75 pieces of engine-powered support equipment, including pumps, compressors, compactors, saws, and so on.

Predominant irrigation methods: Sprinkler

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 37irrigationleadermagazine.com

John O’Callaghan: Depending on market conditions, we may buy new from Sourcewell or another government contract. When buying used, we develop a bid specification and advertise the bid. We also search for auctions offering specific pieces of equipment for which buying at auction may represent significant value over buying new or used from the retail market.

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment?

Irrigation Leader: How do you bid for or buy equipment?

SCBID.OFCOURTESYPHOTO

Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and pieces of equipment before replacing them?

Number of employees: 111 full time plus 5–10 seasonal Size of service area in acres: 233,000

John O’Callaghan

Amount of water diverted per year for irrigation in acre-feet: 980,000 Main crops irrigated: Alfalfa, apples and other tree fruit, corn, grass seed, potatoes, onions, timothy hay, wheat

John O’Callaghan: We do four kinds of maintenance, with the goal of having no major failures during the life of our vehicles and equipment. First, we do scheduled maintenance, such as oil and filter changes done according to manufacturers’ recommendations and our own field experience. Second, we do preventative maintenance, such as replacing components of our frontline equipment at planned intervals. Frontline equipment is equipment that is vital to our day-to-day operations—typically things such as batteries, starters, and water pumps. Third, we do maintenance that is scheduled as needed, such as repairing hydraulic cylinders, tires, and undercarriages; replacing pins and bushings; and reconditioning pin bores on excavators or buckets. Last, we carry out emergency repairs when a machine is down and out of service. These are typically in response to things such as the failure of a hydraulic hose, air line, or brake.

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

Secretary/Manager South Columbia Basin Irrigation District Pasco, WA

John O’Callaghan: We keep detailed records. Each type of repair has a repair order in which we record all the parts and labor that go into it. After the repair or maintenance, that information is entered into our fleet-management software, which is used to calculate the cost of a piece of equipment per hour or mile and the total cost of ownership.

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance?

Gerry Sheets is the general manager of the Middle Loup Public Power and Irrigation District. He can be contacted at gerrysheets@hotmail.com

Irrigation Leader: How do you buy or bid for equipment?

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment?

Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and pieces of equipment before replacing them?

Middle

Gerry Sheets: We currently have two maintenance pickups, two spray pickups, three dump trucks, two lowboys, two backhoes, two excavators, one motor grader, one dozer, and one tractor and mower. The ditch riders supply their own pickups and are paid a monthly amount; the district pays for the fuel.

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

Amount of water diverted for irrigation per year in acre-feet: 53,810 Main crops irrigated: Alfalfa, beans, and corn

Size of service area in acres: 20,876

Sheets

Gerry Sheets: We keep good records with the date, part numbers, and who did the work. When a new piece of equipment is purchased, we get the repair books and the parts breakdown book. Having the part numbers when ordering repairs has helped a lot, as it guarantees we get the right parts right away. The detailed records help with future repairs and resale.

Gerry Sheets: When we replace equipment, we try to get three bids, though we are not required to. Pickups and heavy equipment are purchased new. When replacing trucks, we look mainly at used state or county trucks with good service records.

General Manager Loup Public Power and Irrigation District NE

Gerry Sheets: During the winter, every piece of equipment goes through the shop. Fan belts, hoses, and other wear items are usually replaced before failure. Our staff tackles everything from head gaskets, brakes, rear ends, and hydraulic cylinders down to detailing. Service work is done when the hours or milage dictate it. Our staff are mechanically inclined and not afraid to run a grease gun.

Gerry

Number of employees: 8

Predominant irrigation methods: Center pivots, gravity Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

Gerry Sheets: The district supplies me with a pickup to drive, which is replaced at around 175,000 miles. The pickup I was driving then becomes a shop/maintenance pickup. The shop pickup is then used to spray with. When the spray pickup is replaced, it is usually tired and is sold through a sealed-bid auction. The local buyers drive them for years. A couple years ago, we purchased a new excavator, but we kept the older one, which helps us shape canals in the spring and do pipeline work in the fall more quickly. It seems we are delivering water earlier in the spring each year. The district purchased a new loader/backhoe 9 years ago, but we keep the older hoe, mainly because the district is 46 miles long and lies on both sides of the Middle Loup River. We try to keep the backhoes at about the middle of our service area on each side of the river, which makes for a quicker response in an emergency or in case maintenance is needed. IL

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance?

Arcadia,

38 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com

Patrick Sullivan Treasurer-Manager Elephant Butte Irrigation District Las Cruces, NM Number of employees: 80 Size of service area in acres: 90,640

Irrigation Leader: How many vehicles and pieces of equipment does your district own?

Irrigation Leader: How long do you use your vehicles and heavy equipment before replacing them?

Patrick Sullivan: Yes. We have records for our equipment and mileage records for our vehicles. We make every effort to take excellent care of our fleet and to keep up with all the routine maintenance. Our lead mechanic maintains a schedule for all our items. We have two satellite yards: one in Hatch and one in Chamburino. Day-to-day maintenance takes place at those yards. Equipment that requires more-than-routine maintenance is transported back to the central yard.

EBID.OFCOURTESYPHOTO

Patrick Sullivan: We do all maintenance except for body work in house. Our primary maintenance is done at the central yard. We have a full shop and mechanics. Our mechanics can do everything from replacing the carriage on an excavator to oil changes, engine replacements, overhauls, and the rebuilding of hydraulic systems on equipment.

Irrigation Leader: What kind of maintenance is required for your vehicles and equipment?

Predominant irrigation methods: Flood, drip

Irrigation Leader: What kinds of records do you keep of that maintenance?

Patrick Sullivan: We track what we spend on each and every item.

Irrigation Leader: How do you buy or bid for equipment?

Patrick Sullivan: We try to make sure that our ditch-rider fleet is in the absolute newest and best condition, because we don’t want breakdowns during the irrigation season. We have historically run those trucks for about 5–7 years before moving them to a different, less critical department. As long as they’re serviceable, we will keep vehicles with over 200,000 miles on them. When things do reach a certain age or when the service requirements reach a certain level, we will auction those items off. IL Patrick Sullivan is the treasurer-manager of the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. He can be contacted at (575) 993 2429.

THE EQUIPMENT INTERVIEWS

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 39irrigationleadermagazine.com

Patrick Sullivan: We do a combination of things. Most importantly, we follow the New Mexico state procurement procedures for new purchases and the New Mexico surplus for used purchases. The state can buy surplus equipment all over the United States, and we have the opportunity to buy some items from it. It’s a matter of being first in line, however, and we have noticed in recent years that many entities are choosing to repair rather than replace. It has become more challenging over the last several years, because people are not trading in much heavy equipment, and when they do, it’s usually past its serviceable life. We used to be able to find equipment with a few hundred hours on it. That is getting harder and harder, especially for big ticket items such as large excavators and motor graders. Replacement costs these days are extremely high.

Amount of water diverted for irrigation per year in acre-feet: 282,098 (2010); 57,707 (2021) Main crops irrigated: Alfalfa, chiles, cotton, onions, pecans

Patrick Sullivan: We own 69 pieces of heavy equipment, including everything from single-axle dump trucks to motor graders and excavators. We also have 82 pickups and service trucks. The majority of our heavy equipment was built after the year 2000, but we do have an aging fleet, primarily because of the costs of replacing items like large excavators and motor graders. We continuously weigh the cost of repairs and maintenance versus replacement, and in today’s economy, it’s hard to find an excavator for less than $300,00–$350,000. We’ve are still using some 1980s models of heavy equipment, such as motor graders. An aging fleet requires more maintenance.

Irrigation Leader: Do you have any regular schedule for maintenance on machinery?

One-sixth-scale “Rescue Rosie” comes to the aid of “victim #3” on the Rescue Deck prototype in the Bureau of Reclamation’s hydraulics lab. The Rescue Deck development team is looking for opportunities to conduct pilot testing in America’s irrigation canals.

Thank You, Bureau of Reclamation!

Contact: David Maxson at (508) 359-8833 x210.

The creators of Rescue Deck™ technology express their warmest appreciation for being judged the overall winner of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Canal Safety Challenge. Lifesaving Rescue Deck technology provides a gradual surface that facilitates the self-rescue of humans and animals trapped in irrigation canals. It makes aided rescue safer, too. And it does so with minimal impedance to canal flow.

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Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the CPNRD’s partnership with the PCM program.

Cover crops being grown in the CPNRD service area.

Irrigation Leader: Please introduce the CPNRD.

Darren Cudaback: PCM is the conservation program of the Illinois Corn Growers Association and the Illinois Soybean Association. It was initiated through funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program. We are a nonprofit organization that helps producers look at adopting conservation practices that can help them be better land stewards and improve their bottom lines. One thing we do

Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.

Lyndon Vogt: I am the general manager of the CPNRD. I’ve been at the CPNRD for 9 years. Before I took this position, I was the general manager for the Upper Niobrara White Natural Resources District in Chadron for 12 years. I started out as a water resources manager at Lower Niobrara Natural Resources District and worked my way up to general manager there. I have worked with natural resources districts for 25 years.

CPNRD.OFCOURTESYPHOTO

A Program to Help Frito-Lay’s Farmers With Land Stewardship That Boosts the Bottom Line

Nebraska’s Central Platte Natural Resource District (CPNRD) is working with Precision Conservation Management (PCM) to help growers for the local Frito-Lay plant assess and integrate conservation practices that can improve the environment as well as their bottom lines. In this interview, Irrigation Leader speaks with CPNRD General Manager Lyndon Vogt and PCM Conservation Specialist Darren Cudaback about the new program, which can help farmers make informed decisions about conservation practices.

Darren Cudaback: I am a conservation specialist with PCM. I have also been in the farm industry for 25 years. For most of that time, I have helped producers with marketing. I worked for Cargill for 10 years, B4 Grain for 4 years, and The Andersons for 11 years.

42 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com

Lyndon Vogt: The CPNRD lies along the Platte River in the central part of Nebraska. We are a narrow, long district that runs from Gothenburg to just south of Columbus. A little over 1 million acres of our district are irrigated, so we are a heavily agricultural district. Apart from a small number of acres irrigated with surface water from the Platte River drainage, the majority of the acres are irrigated from the Ogallala aquifer, which underlies the western two-thirds of our district. In the eastern third of our district, we have the glacial till of the High Plains aquifer, a productive aquifer with a high recharge rate. These water resources have helped irrigated agriculture become Nebraska’s number 1 industry.

Irrigation Leader: Would you talk about the results this partnership has produced and whether you have any plans to expand it in the future?

Although this program is only open to Frito-Lay growers in the Gothenburg area, we can help any Nebraska grower with things like data management, gaining carbon credits, or comparing their sustainability practices with those of other growers in their area.

Darren Cudaback: Through the PCM agreement, producers are informed about how their practices can affect their bottom line. They show us how they currently operate, and we help them make important changes to their operations for the next year. We might show them how they can reduce their water use or get carbon credits for certain practices. This is a farmer-first program, and it always will be. We’ll never push a farmer into doing anything they aren’t comfortable with. We have an open discussion about possible changes on an annual basis.

PCM.ANDCPNRDTHEOFCOURTESYPHOTOS

Irrigation Leader: Is there anything you would like to add?

Irrigation Leader: Why is healthy soil so important?

Lyndon Vogt: We know that regulation is expensive, so anytime we can offer a program to producers that might keep them from future regulation, we will. As far as we’re concerned, this is a win for us and a win for the producers in our district. IL

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 43irrigationleadermagazine.com

Lyndon Vogt: Healthy soil has more organic matter and therefore more water holding capacity, which means less leaching and nutrient loss during rainfall or irrigation events, which is better for producers and the environment. Healthy soils sequester carbon and produce healthier crops that deliver more bushels per acre. As you store more carbon in your soil, you’re storing more organic matter in your soil. To produce carbon in your soil, you must have a growing plant with healthy root growth. Right now, if you’re growing corn in our district, you have approximately 5 months with a healthy growing root system in the soil. But once we get to the end of the growing season, planting a cover crop adds another 3–5 months of growing that root system, which not only stores carbon but increases soil health. This program shares the cost of planting those cover crops.

Cover crops being planted in the CPNRD service area.

is help growers identify pertinent grant programs that can offset the cost of doing things like planting cover crops, introducing new tillage practices, and reducing fertilizer use.

Lyndon Vogt is the general manager of the Central Platte Natural Resources District. He can be contacted at vogt@cpnrd.org. Darren Cudaback is a conservation specialist with Precision Conservation Management. He can be contacted dcudaback@precisionconservation.orgat

Irrigation Leader: Why did the CPNRD decide to get involved with the PCM program?

Lyndon Vogt: PCM contacted us about partnering with it. Its conservation specialists were interested in working with some of the producers in the western part of our district that grow for Frito-Lay, which has a plant in our area. We had been exploring how to promote and expand sustainable farming practices, such as planting cover crops, improving soil health, and reducing fertilizer applications. We looked at what PCM was doing with producers in Illinois to promote the same practices we were promoting. Partnering with PCM became the natural next step toward achieving our goals.

Darren Cudaback: We want to demonstrate that environmental goals can be achieved without regulation. We would rather work with producers proactively to achieve environmental goals.

Darren Cudaback: This program is just getting started. We have 11 producers currently participating in the Gothenburg area, but that number will increase dramatically in the next couple of months. Producers are interested in the fact that this program reduces farmers’ risk while maintaining their economic viability. We just announced a program called the Nebraska Irrigation Equipment Incentive that is available to producers participating with PCM.

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Reinke President Chris Roth, Blaize DeGroff, Holdrege Irrigation Vice President Tim Schmidt, and Holdrege Irrigation Service and Structure Technician Alan Loschen behind Blaize’s new center pivot.

46 | IRRIGATION LEADER | September 2022 irrigationleadermagazine.com

REINKE.OFCOURTESYPHOTOS

A family friend had seen a Reinke pivot at the Nebraska State Fair and wondered whether the company might be able to help the DeGroffs. She reached out to Reinke, telling the company about the boy and his love of pivots.

Reinke Brings Smiles to Family With Minipivot

At a young age, Blaize DeGroff was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic condition characterized by medical problems, developmental delays, and learning challenges. Those with Williams Syndrome are often friendly and talkative, with outgoing personalities. That describes 9 year-old DeGroff perfectly.

By Marilyn Ringen

ach day is a new opportunity to help others. Reinke Manufacturing’s daily work involves putting the finest irrigation products and technologies in the hands of growers around the world. But one day last fall, Reinke and one of its dealers in Nebraska had the opportunity to install a minipivot that did far more than just irrigate crops.

According to his mother, Jessica, Blaize is fascinated with water. And living in Ord, Nebraska, that means he also loves pivots. “It started with water: sinks, hoses, any type of water that he could watch flow,” she says. “We live in the country, and my dad is a farmer, so there are lots of pivots around.” During the summer, the family will drive miles down country roads each evening to watch pivots watering the fields. Blaize enjoys seeing the water as it moves out over the corn and listening to the end gun. His dad, Michael, tried to build a pivot out of PVC pipe, and his mom bought an end gun and hooked it up to a hose. But it wasn’t the same. It just didn’t move like a pivot.

Reinke knew that one of its dealers had made some smaller minipivots in the past, so it reached out to them for help. The team at Holdrege Irrigation, about 100 miles from the DeGroffs, loved the idea and got to work planning to build a pivot small enough to fit the family’s property but with all the movement you’d see in a full-sized pivot.

“When we were first contacted about Blaize and his fascination with pivots, we weren’t sure how this would all come together, but we knew we were going to do something,” says Chris Roth, the president of Reinke. “Instead of his family having to drive and go find running pivots each night, we wanted to put one in his yard.”

For Blaize, the day began like any other. He went to school, learning with his classmates and talking with his friends. After school, his mother picked him and his siblings up, and they drove home. Blaize didn’t know what was waiting for him there.

“When we saw his face light up, we knew it was worth it,” says Mr. Roth. “I’ve got kids. To see their faces light up and smile—you know that almost any amount of work is worth it to make that happen.”

Mr. Loschen and Mr. Schmidt showed Blaize and his family how the pivot worked and how to change out the sprinklers on the span. Then, they showed them the owner’s plaque, and Blaize saw his name etched into the metal.

As the children came running down the hill from the driveway, Blaize and his siblings saw the pivot shooting water across the property. Laughter filled the air as the group yelled in excitement.

For his parents and the team who created the minipivot, hearts swelled with pride and most of them had to fight back the “Whentears.hegot home from school and he came running up to it, he was really excited,” Mr. Loschen says. “Once he figured out it was his, he was having a hoot playing in the water from the end gun.”

September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 47irrigationleadermagazine.com

Alan Loschen, the service and structure technician at Holdrege Irrigation, was charged with the task. It wasn’t going to be easy, but knowing who it was for, he knew he had to find a way to make it work. “It’s the smallest pivot I’ve ever worked on,” Mr. Loschen says, “but it was also the most important.” Mr. Loschen’s minipivot is a working, onefifth-scale replica of a complete Reinke pivot, consisting of about 50 parts, including a working motor, a 1.5 inch water pipe, and adjustable sprinkler heads.

On an unseasonably warm day in early November, Mr. Loschen, Mr. Roth, and Tim Schmidt, the vice president of Holdrege Irrigation, drove to Ord to set up the surprise gift at the DeGroffs’ home. They installed the custom-made 36 foot minipivot, complete with a Reinke end sign and owner’s plaque.

When Blaize finally went into the house to change into some dry clothes, his parents had a chance to thank the group. “Every night, we have to drive around and look at pivots; now he has one in his backyard,” Jessica says. “We are overwhelmed and thankful. Never in a million years did I think anyone would go out of their way to give him something like this. It means so much to him, and to us. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts.”

Blaize DeGroff inspects the end gun of his new center pivot. Blaize DeGroff gets a first look at his new center pivot.

Marilyn Ringen is the marketing content manager for Reinke Manufacturing. She can be contacted at marilynringen@reinke.com

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September 2022 | IRRIGATION LEADER | 51irrigationleadermagazine.com Does your organization have a job listing you would like to advertise in our pages? Irrigation Leader provides this service to irrigation districts, water agencies, and hydropower facilities free of charge. For more information, please email Kris Polly at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com. JOB LISTINGS FRWMB FLATHEAD RESERVATION WATER MANAGEMENT BOARD WATER RESOURCES MANAGER/ENGINEER Salary: $120,000–$150,000 annually Location: Ronan, MT Deadline: Until filled Summary: The Water Resources Manager/ Engineer is responsible to the Board to accomplish the work necessary to meet the goals of the water compact by performing, facilitating, delegating, and reviewing the work product of others. The Water Resources Manager/Engineer is the lead staff person with ultimate authority for the operation of the office and inherent functions. Apply: http://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/water/ water-compact-implementation-program/ resources-manager-position-description.pdfdocs/cskt/updates-news/fwmb-waterARVIN-EDISON WATER STORAGE DISTRICT Title: Water Resource Manager Salary: Based upon qualifications Location: Arvin, CA Deadline: Until filled Summary: Under supervision of the EngineerManager and Deputy General Manager, supervises the Engineering Department. Apply: openings/job-openings/https://aewsd.org/jobTitle: International Channel Sales Manager Salary: Based upon qualifications Location: Remote USA Deadline: Until filled Summary: Bring new partners on board and maintain relationships with existing partners. Understand customer and business needs to cross-sell and up-sell the company’s products. Coordinate with other company personnel such as the support team and management team to deliver and meet customer/ partner expectations.

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The California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association, Fall Conference 2022, CA Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona, H2Open Golf Tournament, Casa Grande, AZ

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September 19–22

Washington State Water Resources Association, Annual Conference, Spokane, WA irrigationleadermagazine.comirrigationleader/company/water-strategies-llc

American Water Resources Association, Annual Water Resources Conference, Austin, TX

and

October 9–13

International Desalination Association, World Congress, Sydney, Australia

November 28–30

September 14–17

National Drilling Association Convention, Pittsburgh, PA

October 13–14

European Irrigation Association, GaLaBau Landscaping, Maintenance, and Construction Expo,

National Rural Water Association, WaterPro Conference, National Harbor, MD

October 23–26

September 13–15

October 18

November 2–4

September 16 Agribusiness and Water Council of Arizona, Annual Meeting and Water Conference, Tempe, AZ

October 4–5

Irrigation Australia, International Conference and Exhibition, Adelaide, Australia

Nuremberg, Germany

September 26–28

and

Texas Rural Water Association, Office Professionals Conference, San Antonio, TX Utah Water Users Association, Utah Water Summit, Layton, UT

Irrigation Leader Nebraska Edition September 2022

Articles inside

JOB LISTINGS

Gerry Sheets

Patrick Sullivan

John O’Callaghan

Troy Allen

The Equipment Issue

José Nuncio

New Tools to Boost Efficiency at the Middle Republic Natural Resources District

Chris Crow of Kennewick Irrigation District: What It’s Like to Drive a D11 Bulldozer

Assura Software’s Asset Management Solutions

Bryce Evans of Evans Equipment: Reliable Refurbished Heavy Equipment for Irrigation Districts

Jerry Gibbens