At Fresno State, the Center for Irrigation Technology is a quiet voice saying some big things.
For students and faculty outside of the Jordan College of Agriculture, the Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT) is just a name. What is not realized is that CIT plays a big role in the day-to-day water usage throughout the Valley.
Photo by Roe Borunda / The Collegian
CIT is dedicated to “advancing water-management practices and irrigation technology.” It acts as a testing lab, research facility and educational center for the public as well as private businesses. CIT is partnered with 120 independent companies throughout the San Joaquin Valley. Together, CIT and these companies explore and develop water technology in an organization called the International Center for Water Technology. This giant partnership was created for the goal of branding the Valley as the “Blue Tech Valley””” essentially the Silicon Valley for water.
“Nothing happens without water here,” said David Zoldoske, director of CIT.
CIT’s main roles are to support irrigated agriculture, work with industry to develop new technologies and work with the community to facilitate water policy discussions. Its goal is to educate the campus and community about water issues and solutions.
CIT is reaching out to companies and organizations in the Valley who all have a common interest””water””to work together to find ways to manage it, utilize it, research ways to do these things better and then tell everyone and anyone about it.
“We hopefully won’t fail for lack of support,” Zoldoske said. “We may ultimately fail because the idea isn’t good enough or competitive enough.”
The Center for Irrigation Technology is not a recent addition to Fresno State. Winston Strong was a professor for the plant science department and mechanized agriculture department for 34 years, ending in 1974. More than 60 years ago he began testing sprinklers at Fresno State. He established the sprinkler test station in 1953 when Fresno State was still called Fresno State College. Strong was part of establishing the Ag One Foundation, which awards endowment scholarships to students of the Jordan College of Agriculture Sciences and Technology.
After Strong’s pioneering efforts for irrigation, CIT was officially founded on April 9, 1980. Since then, it has had three directors”” Ed Norum, Ken Solomon and now Zoldoske.
In 2001 the International Center for Water Technology was created to deal with water functions besides irrigation. It offers broader services for water technology and brought with it a marketing effort for water management.
The list of projects with which CIT is extensive. CIT tests produce in the fields, created and maintains the Wateright website, administers the Advanced Pumping Efficiency Program for PG&E, publishes reports on California’s water usage, and researches and tests ways to do all of these things in energy-efficient methods.
The subject of energy is becoming unavoidable in this line of work.
“All the water that we use has to be pumped some place,” Zoldoske said.
CIT has a program for agriculture water-energy efficiency and was recently funded by PG&E to establish an agriculture water energy center for the Fresno State farm. CIT is also connected with the Water Energy Technology center (WET center) on campus, which provides 20,000 square feet for testing water systems and functions as a lab for water technology research.
Currently, the WET center holds energy-harvesting equipment that has never been used in the United States before. The setup is a water distribution system that converts pressure from high to low and creates energy. It is being tested before being installed in San Jose.
Besides working in water technology and water-energy efficiency, CIT also works as an advocate for the Central Valley’s water allocation with the state of California. It works with the eight counties in the Valley to identify water projects that are important to the area and lobby those projects to lawmakers in Sacramento.
“That’s a very powerful statement when you’re seeking funding””to have constituency agree on something,” Zoldoske said.
CIT ultimately targets Fresno State students who are interested in water and career opportunities that tackle challenges and solutions. CIT employs 60 students who work on water research and support the daily activities of the center.