Using satellite imagery to estimate consumptive water use from irrigated lands in the Milk River Basin, United States and Canada

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey, with the support of the International Joint Commission, and in cooperation with Alberta Environment and Parks, Blackfeet Nation, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is leading a project that should improve information available to apportion water between Canada and the United States in the St. Mary and Milk River Basins. One component of the water budget, consumptive use of irrigation water (the amount of supplemental water used by crops), can be estimated at 100-meter resolution almost every week using imagery recorded by satellites from 1985 to present (2021) and weather data, when conditions permit. Better estimates of consumptive water use should improve understanding of water availability and use in the basin and should assist with water apportionment procedures.