Historical Agricultural Irrigation Surveys & Maps

Although the history of irrigated land acreage in Texas is traced back to the early 1800s, estimations of statewide irrigation water use in Texas did not begin until the 1950s. The Texas Water Development Board, the USDA-Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resources Conservation Service), and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board conducted the first detailed, statewide survey of on-farm irrigation water use in Texas in 1958. This collaborative group published surveys every five years thereafter from 1958 to 2000. We currently have the years 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994 and 2000 digitally scanned and are working to make 1958, 1964, 1969, and 1974 available. Available maps are accessible below by clicking on the county and then the year of interest. Available supporting irrigation documentation for 1958 to 2000 is also available below.

Please note that these are large PDF files and may take a moment to load. If you are unable to access these files for any reason please feel free to contact our staff.

For more information about the Historical Irrigation Survey Maps please contact Agricultural Conservation staff at 512-463-7955 or agconservation@twdb.texas.gov