If you downloaded the RCE irrigation pump log sheet posted here last fall, and you haven’t sent in your water use report yet, you have until Wed to calculate your monthly water use and submit it to NJ DEP. Keeping a hard copy of the log sheet by each well makes a simple way to record actual water use, but tallying the monthly and annual totals will take one more step.
The log sheet is actually a template from a Microsoft Excel file that will do all those calculations for you. You just need to transfer the numbers from the paper copy into the same cells in the spreadsheet. If you need to download the file again, it is available on the NJ Vegetable Crops Online Resources site here. Open the file and click the ‘enable editing’ button.
To transfer field data into the spreadsheet, start by selecting a new tab at the bottom of the screen for each well (already set up for Well #1, but that page needs to be copied for additional wells). Then transfer the data from the field sheets, including the information about each well at the top of the page. It is critical to put in the pump capacity as that is needed for calculating the monthly water use (if you put in all the hours and the monthly use reads ‘0’, check to make sure the pump capacity cell is filled correctly).
Questions or suggestions for improving this log can be directed to Atlantic County Agent Rick VanVranken (vanvranken@njaes.rutgers.edu).
