Irrigation pumping is a major expense of agricultural operations, especially in arid/semi-arid\nareas that extract large amounts of water from deep groundwater resources. Studying and improving\npumping efficiencies can have direct impacts on farm net profits and on the amount of greenhouse\ngases (GHG) emitted from pumping plants. In this study, the overall pumping efficiency (OPE),\nthe GHG emissions, and the costs of irrigation pumping were investigated for electric pumps extracting\nfrom the Rush Springs (RS) aquifer in central Oklahoma and the natural gas-powered pumps tapping\nthe Ogallala (OG) aquifer in the Oklahoma Panhandle. The results showed that all electric plants and\nthe majority of natural gas plants operated at OPE levels below achievable standard levels. The total\nemission from the plants in the OG region was 49% larger than that from plants in the RS region.\nHowever, the emission per unit irrigated area and unit total dynamic head of pumping was 4% smaller\nfor the natural gas plants in the OG area. A long-term analysis conducted over the 2001â??2017 period\nrevealed that 34% and 19% reductions in energy requirements and 52% and 20% decreases in GHG\nemissions can be achieved if the OPE were improved to achievable standards for plants in the RS and\nOG regions, respectively.
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