5.

2 effectiveness of irrigation in Southern California

2021年5⽉30⽇星期⽇ 下午3:45

Irrigation system is effective to solve climatic constraints.The two major river in Southern
California are San Joaquin river and Colorado river.Dams are built to hold back snow
meltwater from high mountains.This provide water for the Colorado river.Water is further
transport to farm through aqueducts and canals .Different irrigation methods can be
adopted in southern California ,for instance, the sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation.

First,as Southern California has low annual rainfall ,the water supply is unstable and
unreliable.Farming is limited due to the unstable water supply.However ,with the canals
and aqueducts, water can be transported to farm for irrigation.The water supply become
more stable and reliable,more irrigated water can be used for growing of water-
demanding crops.Therefore,irrigation system can tackle the insufficient rainfall and
unstable water supply.

Second, the evaporation rate in Southern California is high.There are little soil moisture in
soil.However ,with irrigation system,drip irrigation method can be adopted.Small tubes
are put near root of crops,water drip out from the holes of the small tubes .Less water will
be evaporated and more water will infiltrate into the soil.This increase the soil moisture
and plant roots can absorb more efficiently.Therefore,irrigation system can solve the
problem of insufficient soil moisture caused by the high evaporation rate.

However,it is ineffective .Reasons are as follow.

First,irrigation can only increase the water supply in short term.In long terms,the irrigation
system may not function well because of inadequate annual rainfall or water supply.There
are still insufficient water for irrigation in farm.

Second,irrigation system cannot improve the soil fertility.The soil remains infertile with
little organic matter.Even though there are increase in water supply ,the poor conditions
of the soil still limit the growth of crops.

Third, climatic hazard still exist.For instance,frost still exist and this may cause crop
failure.Farming is still unflavourable even with the irrigation system.

Fourth,the irrigation system do not change the climate of Southern California .The annual
mean temperature is still high and the annual rainfall is still low.Crops are not suitable to
be grown in such environment.

Other measures can be done to solve climatic constraints.For example,genetically

modified technologies can be used .with the GM tech ,drought resistant crops can be
grown.Less irrigation is needed and this save water.This may solve the problem of
insufficient rain.Frost-resistant crop can also be grown .It prevent crop failure caused by
frost.