What are the environmental impacts of irrigation and does it affect fish?
In a nutshell, the environmental impacts of irrigation now are minimal and no, irrigation does not affect fish. The longer version is as follows: many Alaskan farmers use ‘drip tape irrigation’, which is 90% efficient. The way it works is long lines of tape, which are attached to a faucet, are laid underneath each row. The rows themselves are often then covered with a fabric, called ‘infrared transmittable fabric’, that retains water while protecting the plant from cold temperatures. With this system, 90% of water used to irrigate crops does what it’s supposed to! The water usually comes from wells, which do not affect fish populations. Of course, when we’re talking about expanding Alaska’s agricultural production there’s always potential that present conditions will be exacerbated and more stress will be put on the water tables. However, Alaska currently does not have the pest or mold problems associated with enormous farms in the Lower 48. There are no problems with phosphate and nit
