MODELING PROCESS FOR ASSESSING WATER QUALITY PROBLEMS AND DEVELOPING APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS IN IRRIGATED AGRICULTURE

Author(s):  
Gaylord V. Skogerboe ◽  
Wynn R. Walker ◽  
Robert G. Evans
Climate ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Tewodros R. Godebo ◽  
Marc A. Jeuland ◽  
Christopher J. Paul ◽  
Dagnachew L. Belachew ◽  
Peter G. McCornick

This work aims to assess water quality for irrigated agriculture, alongside perceptions and adaptations of farmers to climate change in the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER). Climate change is expected to cause a rise in temperature and variability in rainfall in the region, reducing surface water availability and raising dependence on groundwater. The study data come from surveys with 147 farmers living in the Ziway–Shala basin and water quality assessments of 162 samples from groundwater wells and surface water. Most groundwater samples were found to be unsuitable for long term agricultural use due to their high salinity and sodium adsorption ratio, which has implications for soil permeability, as well as elevated bicarbonate, boron and residual sodium carbonate concentrations. The survey data indicate that water sufficiency is a major concern for farmers that leads to frequent crop failures, especially due to erratic and insufficient rainfall. An important adaptation mechanism for farmers is the use of improved crop varieties, but major barriers to adaptation include a lack of access to irrigation water, credit or savings, appropriate seeds, and knowledge or information on weather and climate conditions. Local (development) agents are identified as vital to enhancing farmers’ knowledge of risks and solutions, and extension programs must therefore continue to promote resilience and adaptation in the area. Unfortunately, much of the MER groundwater that could be used to cope with declining viability of rainfed agriculture and surface water availability, is poor in quality. The use of saline groundwater could jeopardize the agricultural sector, and most notably commercial horticulture and floriculture activities. This study highlights the complex nexus of water quality and sufficiency challenges facing the agriculture sector in the region, and should help decision-makers to design feasible strategies for enhancing adaptation and food security.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sihem Hedjal ◽  
Derradji Zouini ◽  
Abdelwaheb Benamara

AbstractThe wetland complex of Guerbes-Sanhadja (north-eastern Algeria), has experienced in recent years a certain economic expansion, particularly agricultural, about 47% of the useful agricultural area marked by several varieties of crops ranging from market gardening to speculative crops, requiring large quantities of water for irrigation purposes, however the swampy areas are the main sources used for irrigation purposes in this practice. It is therefore necessary for this water to have physicochemical properties adapted to plants, in particular the absence of salinity. This study was done to evaluate the status of the swamps areas quality and its suitability for irrigated agriculture. To achieve this objective, water samples from ten swamps areas water were collected from Guerbes-Sanhadja in February and June of 2016. The water quality of these swamps was estimated from different water quality parameters such as pH and electrical conductivity (EC), the chemical parameters like Na+, K+, Ca2+, HCO3−, SO42−, Cl−, BOD5, NO3−, NO2−, NH4+ and PO43−. Based on the physico-chemical analyses, irrigation quality parameters like sodium absorption ratio (SAR), percent sodium (% Na), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), permeability index (PI), magnesium hazard (MH) were calculated. The results showed that the overall concentration of nitrate was very high. About 60 percent of the swampy areas had suitable water quality for chloride, and they had a concentration below the permissible limit for crop irrigation. From the Richards diagram, it is observed that most of the samples from the study area fall in the good to permissible classes for irrigation purpose.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-434
Author(s):  
Muhammed A. Usman ◽  
Nicolas Gerber

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the relationship between household drinking water quality and irrigation and child nutrition using primary household survey data and microbiological water sample testings in two rural districts of Ethiopia. Anthropometric measures such as height-for-age z-scores (HAZ), weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ), and weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) were used to measure stunting, underweight, and wasting, respectively. Our survey results show that 41% of the children are stunted, 26% underweight, and 8% wasted. More than 58% of household's stored drinking water samples were also contaminated with Escherichia coli bacteria. The multivariate regression results suggest that irrigation farming and on-premises water sources are significantly associated with lower HAZ, while uncontaminated household stored drinking water quality is correlated with higher WAZ. The results also reveal that dietary diversity score and the number of antenatal care visits by the primary caretaker are statistically significant predictors of child nutritional status. These findings, however, cast doubt on the hypothesis that irrigated agriculture exclusively has a positive effect on child nutrition outcomes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4733
Author(s):  
Nigel W. T. Quinn

This paper provides a chronology and overview of events and policy initiatives aimed at addressing irrigation sustainability issues in the San Joaquin River Basin (SJRB) of California. Although the SJRB was selected in this case study, many of the same resource management issues are being played out in arid, agricultural regions around the world. The first part of this paper provides an introduction to some of the early issues impacting the expansion of irrigated agriculture primarily on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and the policy and capital investments that were used to address salinity impairments to the use of the San Joaquin River (SJR) as an irrigation water supply. Irrigated agriculture requires large quantities of water if it is to be sustained, as well as supply water of adequate quality for the crop being grown. The second part of the paper addresses these supply issues and a period of excessive groundwater pumping that resulted in widespread land subsidence. A joint federal and state policy response that resulted in the facilities to import Delta water provided a remedy that lasted almost 50 years until the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 was passed in the legislature to address a recurrence of the same issue. The paper describes the current state of basin-scale simulation modeling that many areas, including California, are using to craft a future sustainable groundwater resource management policy. The third section of the paper deals with unique water quality issues that arose in connection with the selenium crisis at Kesterson Reservoir and the significant threats to irrigation sustainability on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley that followed. The eventual policy response to this crisis was incremental, spanning two decades of University of California-led research programs focused on finding permanent solutions to the salt and selenium contamination problems constraining irrigated agriculture, primarily on the west side. Arid-zone agricultural drainage-induced water quality problems are becoming more ubiquitous worldwide. One policy approach that found traction in California is an innovative variant on the traditional Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) approach to salinity regulation, which has features in common with a scheme in Australia’s Hunter River Basin. The paper describes the real-time salinity management (RTSM) concept, which is geared to improving coordination of west side agricultural and wetland exports of salt load with east side tributary reservoir release flows to improve compliance with river salinity objectives. RTSM is a concept that requires access to continuous flow and electrical conductivity data from sensor networks located along the San Joaquin River and its major tributaries and a simulation model-based decision support designed to make salt load assimilative capacity forecasts. Web-based information dissemination and data sharing innovations are described with an emphasis on experience with stakeholder engagement and participation. The last decade has seen wide-scale, global deployment of similar technologies for enhancing irrigation agriculture productivity and protecting environmental resources.


1989 ◽  
Vol 115 (5) ◽  
pp. 807-821 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. F. Ritter ◽  
F. J. Humenik ◽  
R. W. Skaggs

2019 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 12-18
Author(s):  
CHembarisov Elmir Ismailovich ◽  
Mirzakobulov ZHahongir Bahtiyarovich ◽  
Rahimova Matluba Naimovna ◽  
Rasulov Bahadyr Olim ◽  
Tillaeva Zarina Umarovna

The article considers the problems of irrigation water quality in Central Asia through hydroecological monitoring. Practical and scientific recommendations for solving these problems are offered. There are noted the necessity of development of scientific base of researches on all aspects of water quality and protection of water resources; adoption of laws and administrative documents on protection of waters and improvement of their quality; performance of various engineering, technological actions. The hydroecological state of surface waters of large irrigated areas of the Amudarya river basin was studied for regieon: Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Khorezm and irrigated zones of the Republic of Karakalpakstan. It is noted that the process of salinization of irrigated lands is dangerous for the region. According to the calculations 50...55 million tons of various salts are came to irrigated annually fields. This is the reason for the deterioration of the hydrological state of irrigated agriculture in the region.


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