SDE Feature Class
Tags
geospatial science and technology, groundwater, groundwater recharge, research, soil management
The Soil Agricultural Groundwater Banking Index (SAGBI) is a suitability index for groundwater recharge on agricultural land. The SAGBI is based on five major factors that are critical to successful agricultural groundwater banking: deep percolation, root zone residence time, topography, chemical limitations, and soil surface condition. There are two versions of the SAGBI: Unmodified and Modified. The Unmodified layer shows suitability using soil data as mapped by the USDA-NRCS Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO). The Modified layer is a hypothetical layer that assumes that all soils with restrictive layers have been modified by deep tillage, thereby increasing their permeability. More details about the SAGBI can be found in the article in California Agriculture located at http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?article=ca.v069n02o75
Groundwater pumping chronically exceeds natural recharge in many agricultural regions in California. A common method of recharging groundwater when surface water is available is to deliberately flood an open area, allowing water to percolate into an aquifer. However, open land suitable for this type of recharge is scarce. Flooding agricultural land during fallow or dormant periods has the potential to increase groundwater recharge substantially, but this approach has not been well studied. Using data on soils, topography and crop type, we developed a spatially explicit index of the suitability for groundwater recharge of land in all agricultural regions in California.
O'Geen A, Saal M, Dahlke H, Doll D, Elkins R, Fulton A, Fogg G, Harter T, Hopmans J, Ingels C, Niederholzer F, Sandoval Solis S, Verdegaal P, Walkinshaw M. 2015. Soil suitability index identifies potential areas for groundwater banking on agricultural lands. Calif Agr 69(2):75-84. Available online at http://calag.ucanr.edu/archive/?article=ca.v069n02p75
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Extent
| West | -123.931377 | East | -113.813598 |
| North | 42.033161 | South | 32.441247 |
| Maximum (zoomed in) | 1:5,000 |
| Minimum (zoomed out) | 1:150,000,000 |