Worksheet Available to Estimate Farm Water Use for Act 220 Reporting

     A simple, easy to use spreadsheet (link to excel spreadsheet) for calculating water use on a variety of farm operations has been developed by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau for farmers who are subject to water use registration under Pennsylvania’s Water Resources Planning Act (Act 220 of 2002). Also see accompanying guidelines (word doc) .
     The information has been recognized as a viable method for estimating farm water use by the state Department of Environmental Protection and is posted on their website.
     Act 220 provides for development and updating of a State Water Plan and coordination of regional water plans to identify voluntary programs and activities that will help meet water use demands.  Act 220 requires persons that average more than 10,000 gallons per day in water use for any 30-day period (including farmers) to register with DEP and provide annual reports of water use.  But Act 220 also requires DEP to allow and identify methods for “smaller” registered water users (averaging 50,000 gallons or less per day in a 30-day period) to estimate their water use.
      Registration is viewed as important in identifying current water needs in the event of future situations where demand in a region exceeds available water resources.
      Regulations recently established a “deadline” of June 30 for filing of annual water use reports.
       The calculations spreadsheet developed by PFB allows farmers to quickly estimate water use for practices ranging from spray or drip irrigation of crops to washing milk bulk tanks and pipelines. Water consumption estimates for raising poultry and livestock such as milking and dry cows, swine, chickens, turkeys, sheep, goats and other animals is also included,
       The calculations were developed with input from a team of Farm Bureau members who identified farming and production practices included the accuracy.
        “It’s simple to use and gets the job done,” commented John Bell, PFB’s Governmental Affairs Counsel, who was involved in developing the spreadsheet.
          In addition to the calculation template developed by PFB, the DEP webpage also includes spreadsheets developed by Penn State Extension for estimating water use for the farm and home, and by the Penn State Dairy Alliance for estimating water use for dairy operations.