Determining evapotranspiration by phreatophytes from climatological data

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Abstract
Before the available water resources of a drainage basin in arid and semiarid regions can be satisfactorily ascertained, careful consideration must be given to the consumptive water requirements of phreatophytes (or water‐loving vegetation) and other types of natural vegetation and agricultural crops. The moisture requirements of natural vegetation are usually satisfied before water becomes available for irrigation and other purposes. Although evapotranspiration (consumptive use) by phreatophytes has been measured at various times and places during the past 40 years, very little data are available in most sections of the United States. This paper presents data on measured evapotranspiration by phreatophytes and describes a method of determining rates of water consumption in areas where no measurements except climatological data are available. Briefly, the procedure is to correlate existing evapotranspiration data with monthly temperature, monthly percentages of yearly daytime hours, and growing period. The coefficients so developed for different kinds of vegetation are used to transpose the evapotranspiration data for a given area to other areas for which only climatological data are available.

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